Eric Kinder on the away defeat
Youth boss Eric Kinder spoke to us about the disappointing away defeat at Oldham on Saturday afternoon.
"With Wednesday in mind we changed the whole side apart from Patrick [Brough] and Kyle [Dempsey]," he said.
"I agreed with Oldham that we'd play a new intake game, and if that's their team next season then they'll have a very good side. They were physically and mentally stronger than us and they'll be the side to beat next season if they play like that.
"It was a similar team to the one which faced Macclesfield last week and even though we won we were second best for the majority of the game."
"I hope the three league games they've played have been a big wakeup call up for the young lads," he continued.
"They'll play more friendlies together as well, so they'll have the benefit of knowing each other before we start next season. It was very difficult for them but at least they know what they'll be coming into."
"We competed well for the first half an hour and it was only some great last ditch defending that stopped a Connor Thomson cross from being tapped in," he explained.
"We had a couple more half chances but we got ourselves in a mess with some back passes which ended up with Lewis [Brass] conceding a penalty. I thought it was a little bit harsh because it looked like he got the ball, but the referee gave it and they went one up."
"We conceded another just before half time which made it really tough for us," he continued.
"The lads thought it was going out of play and they didn't chase it down, but their player kept it in. That put us on the back foot and it was just down to our naivety for both goals."
"We had a very young team out so I wasn't too bothered about the result," he told us. "However, I wasn't happy at all because we just caved in. They basically gave up and that's something that they'll have to stop doing very quickly."
"We went three down after 54 minutes but Patrick [Brough] got us back to 3-1 almost immediately after that," he said. "We looked a bit better for a while but they broke through and scored another two easy goals.
"A 5-1 defeat looks bad on paper, and Oldham did probably deserve that score line, but it was good for our young players to get this type of experience.
"It's one in the long-run which will make them better players. We did the same sort of thing a couple of years ago with Oldham, and we lost that one 6-3.
"When I think back the team from that game had Potts, Symington and Todd in it. We came away thinking we had a heck of a lot of work to do but I think we all know what happened with those lads by now."
"We'll have a very young side next year and that's something we'll have to be aware of," he said. "We'll have a lot more first years than second years.
"It doesn't really matter how they play at Oldham when they're 15-years old. The important thing for them is how they're playing in two years time.
"For example, Frankie Wallace has been exposed to more under-18 games than the rest of the new group, and you could tell that was case on Saturday. He looked like a very good player.
"The main thing right now is that they look back on the game and begin to understand what is going to be needed from them season."
United: Brass, McEvoy, Teasdale, Dickson, Marshall, Wallace, Dempsey, Thomson, Brough, Elliot (Hammell 68), Blackburn. Subs: Parker, Lynch, Chisholm, Salmon.