YOUTH: Everything seemed to click

Vince Overson on the Lincoln and Accrington youth games

Youth coach Vince Overson spoke to us about the victory over Lioncoln City in the Youth Alliance Cup on Saturday.

"I was delighted on Saturday," he said. "The lads have been playing very well. They seem to be learning and they're taking on board coaching points during training sessions.

"The results haven't been going for them, but on Saturday everything seemed to click. We work on possession all the way through the week and we had long periods of good possession in this game.

"We created chances, took them and we could have scored a few more goals, which is pleasing. It was a real confidence booster for the lads."

"There was a bit of a buzz because it was a cup game," he admitted. "We asked the players why that was and they couldn't really explain it. It had an extra bite to it for the players and we talk about consistency and approaching every game the same, but they just couldn't explain it.

"We probably had the same number of chances as we've had in other games recently, but the difference was we got the result. I think that's down to perseverance because we ask them to play a certain way, which they have done. They've produced some good football but you do get barren spells in front of goal.

"We said the other day that somebody is going to be on the end of a good thrashing. From a football point of view I thought Lincoln were on the end of that and I don't think the 2-0 result reflects the performance. From the lads' point of view it was a real confidence builder. 

"The focus has been on possession in training, which might be monotonous, but it has to be repetitive for the penny to drop. Even though we worked on it all the way through the week you don't know what to expect when it comes to a Saturday at youth team level."

"The lads have all got ability," he said. "There's no denying that, and myself and Alan Moore really enjoy watching them play. Everything just seemed to click on Saturday. They worked extremely hard to win the ball back and they used it well when they did.

"The reward now is another home tie against Rotherham in the next round. We played them in a friendly a couple of years ago but we don't know a lot about them.

"Looking at their results, they usually finish quite high up in the league so we're expecting a tough game. We're only really interested in how we'll perform. If we do get a performance we're fairly confident, but we don't take anybody for granted."

On the Accrington game on Saturday morning, he said: "In past experience Accrington have been a difficult side to break down. They've changed personnel in terms of their coaches so I don't know if they'll have a different approach to how they want to play.

"They used to soak up a lot of pressure then hit you on the counter attack, so it will be interesting to see how they play under the new coaching staff."

"I think the players are enjoying the amount of home games we're playing at the moment because of the quality of the pitch," he told us. "Dave Mitchell should take a lot of credit for that because the playing surface is fantastic. I would think it's actually the best in the league.

"It's always nice to play on a flat pitch with plenty of grass on, and I think other teams look forward to coming here and playing on it. They know it's going to be a good surface, but our lads have a bit of an advantage because they play on it on a regular basis."