United boss Chris Beech confirmed that there was nothing to read into the fact that keeper Lukas Jensen had been absent from the midweek Central League Cup group game against Fleetwood, with youth graduate Scott Simons having taken the spot between the sticks for that encounter.
“Lukas did well against Hartlepool, with his penalty saves as well,” he explained. “He’s definitely looking more aligned to playing first-team football. I think there’s not too much between him and Magnus, and it’s great competition having players of similar age, physicality and capability.
“If Lukas cracks on it definitely applies pressure on Magnus. Then you look at your other players that need game time. We could have played Lukas, but he played last time we played behind closed doors, so it’s good for Scott to get a game.
“It was interesting seeing him responding to me when I wanted to speed the game up. He’s got to meet that demand to be able to go on and play first-team football. It’s all great learning for the lads, especially younger players and I was pretty pleased with the younger ones.”
“That includes a first run-out for Jonathan [Dinzeyi],” he continued. “There are powerful aspects to his game, he was blocking and tackling well.
“I know he’s had a shock to the system in terms of pace of training, recovery, so that will do him the world of good to have played for us and won the game. That’s a start from him and we’ll see how things transpire as we move forward.”