REDS EXIT LEAGUE CUP BUT YOUNG GUNS IMPRESS

Rothbury 1 Prudhoe YC 2

Reeves Independent George Dobbins League Cup Round 2

Two quick-fire second half goals sent Rothbury crashing out of the League Cup but midfielder James Jackson felt that it had been a great learning experience for the younger players in the Reds squad.

Experienced Jackson was moved from his normal central berth into a striking position for the tie and was full of praise for the way the club is aiming at developing local talent.

“We have a lot of young players this season and I feel as well as pushing for silverware it’s just as important to try and bring them on, so getting them game time is essential and as a senior player I won’t let my personal gains of trotting around the centre circle thinking I look good get in the way - I would much rather try and bring these kids on,” he said afterwards.

“Harry Felton got our player of the month last month. This is a kid who just asked to come along to training in the summer with the view of it being an extra couple nights of football and he’s knocking on the gaffer’s door now and it’s hard for Dan to keep him away. He’s been amazing, also brought some new intelligence to the dressing room - the level of that intelligence I will leave for you to work out,” he joked.

“But we want this to be a club where young lads want to come and play their football so it’s great to see. So I think the balance yesterday of bringing on the other young lads Harry Felton and Alex Law when we were pushing for the equaliser was great as it could of been easy for Dan to not change it and say it was too close of a game for subs, but that’s not what he’s trying to do here - he made the subs and they made a difference. I think 5/10 more minutes on the clock and we would of got extra time!”

Although the sides went in at half time scoreless, goals from Prudhoe’s Ryan Burnyeat and Brad Rodgers in the 50^th and 52^nd minutes put Rothbury on the back foot. But Jackson netted his first of the season in the 66^th minute to reduce the deficit and admitted that he had been a little apprehensive in taking on the role beforehand.

“When Dan pulled me before the game and asked if I would do a job upfront I actually felt nervous to take Gar’s (Gareth McCann) Number 9 shirt - the pressure was on to do it justice. I think he would have been proud of my finish though to be fair,” he laughed.

“But, yeah, I much prefer to be playing in the middle. I feel like I can influence the game a lot more but we have so many options in centre midfield at the minute which is brilliant and young Dylan Handyside deserved to keep his place.”

“It was a decent game between two teams who try to play football, maybe not as much as we both did in the first game of the season when we met, however, Prudhoe are neat and tidy outfit who have a clear style of play,” he continued.

“I thought we did okay in patches which ultimately cost us the game as we conceded two goals within two minutes during a poor spell after half time. Over the 90 minutes we probably deserved to be defeated but we dug in and fought back which was great to see as our flowing football just wasn’t happening at times.”

Manager Dan Herron agreed and felt his side had put in a decent performance against quality opposition, with the half time break knocking a bit of momentum out of his side.

“The performance was okay to be fair. Prudhoe are a very sharp side mentally and physically, so it really gave us something to think about. Credit to them, they’re the best side we’ve played this year for sure. We grew into the game on around the 30th minute and half time coming kind of killed us - we had a good spell just before it and didn’t really come out of the blocks in the second. That’s something we need to learn from as a group, we were sluggish until the two goals went in, and then we reacted,” he said, while emphasising his desire for the team to go for the jugular earlier in games.

“A learning point for us is we shouldn’t have to go behind for us to come to life. I want us to be more proactive than reactive,” he said.

“Their first goal was a great header from about 18 yards, really difficult one to take because it was top quality. The second was a great finish curled into the bottom left corner, but I felt we gave them too much time and space in the build up before it. Two goals in quick succession is definitely a sucker punch, but we reacted well and started playing a bit more.”

The gaffer was also impressed with the contribution that the younger players made to the game, and continued: “The introduction of young and quality subs made a difference too. Greg (Woodburn) came on and as always carried us forward well with his close control, he was probably unlucky to not start after being away on holiday, but that’s the sort of impact you want to see, proving why he should be in the team.” 
“Harry and Lawsy came on to inject a bit of energy upfront and out wide, they both did well too. We had the added quality of Gav (Dick) off the bench too.”

“It was good to see the younger players giving us a different dimension. We’re keen to develop the young talent here and want the juniors to follow suit into the first team. We tried something different with Mins up front, young Dylan has done really well in recent weeks to keep his place and we missed Gar so decided to mix it up,” he said.

“At the end of the day we’re all learning with the squad we have, trying to pull out those strengths and seeing where they can be applied in different areas is important. It’s a long term project for us so it’s important to be adaptable. Mins’s goal was a lovely chip over the keeper after a long ball from deep, which gave us a bit of hope but we couldn’t find the second to take it to extra time.”

“On balance they probably deserved the win - I would have just liked to continue our spell of dominance after half time, but that’s how the game goes. We dust ourselves off and focus on the next two cups which are important to us.”

Jackson also focussed on the importance of the Reds taking the positives and bouncing back for next Saturday’s rescheduled Combination Cup tie with Hexham at Armstrong Park and said: “I was always going to say it once we got knocked out yesterday but honestly it’s a much better chance for silverware with it already being the quarter finals so we have to leave everything on the pitch but not get caught up in the hype; we are a much better team when we keep calm and keep the ball simple. We’ve got to be up for it on Saturday though.”