Hull City Reserves 8 Scunthorpe United Reserves 0

A more experienced City outfit steam rolled a young (excepting Garry Thompson) Scunthorpe team at Ferriby tonight. The writing was on the wall early doors as City led in minutes through Fran McCaffery, who together with Danny Emerton were my picks of the night. I just wonder how much of a hindrance this poor quality reserve league will be to the development of our young stars.
Two trialists on show in Slovenian international, Dejan Kelhar, together with Kealan Dillion, apparently a Republic of Ireland under 19 international freed by Derby County. Kelhar seems to be an enigma who Wikipedia say joined Legia Warsaw on a 2 1/2 year contract in Feb 2011, moved to an unpronounceable Turkish team in Ankara, but now appears to be a free agent! Presumably all will become clearer when our local media publish the full story (or perhaps not??)

1) Joe Cracknell - Great young prospect who I think could soon trump Mark Oxley in the pecking order. Didnt have much to do tonight but made a couple of bad decisions which fortunately the opposition were not good enough to exploit. However, in truth he had nothing to do so I ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
2) Tom Bennett - Looked the weakest of solid back four but his strength and size meant he was hardly bothered by a light weight Scunny attack.
3) Conor Townsend - Always looks threatening going forward and defends very well. Deserved a goal tonight for me. I hope he continues to develop and on current form and continued improvement seems destined to be our No 2 left back when Dawson finally moves across the bridge to Scunthorpe in a coaching capacity. Not yet first team material but not far off.
4) Gavan Holohan - What has happened Gavan? At one point not long ago, I really thought he was gonna be a City great. Tonight, once again, he looked ordinary, gave the ball away too much and did not command as I think he should. To be fair, he probably did nothing wrong but after such early promise, maybe i expect too much as a mere fan.
5) Dejan Kehlar - Notwithstanding any financial or contractual implications, I d suggest he is worth another go. Seemed a little sluggish but also had an air of class about him with showing a great deal of strength. Having said that, he was rarely troubled and helped to marshal Scunnys lone experienced attacker, Garry Thompson. Took his goal well with a hooked volley from a corner.
6) Sonny Bradley - Hope Sonny continues to improve. Another solid display in which he did everything that was asked. He looks like a first team player in the making to me. I just hope the standard of his regular opposition improves to give him a stiffer test.
7) Francis McCaffery - I hope we have him tied into a long term contract. Always a threat and took all three of his goals very well. He's more than equipped for the jump up from the youth team to the stiffs. Great performance Fran.
8) James Harper - He was James Harper. Need I really say more? Easy to see why the Sheff Utd fans used to call him the bus conductor when he was there on loan. He waves his arms around, points, controls play and, against poor standard opposition tonight he shone. What more could he do? I got the impression he wasn't particularly comfortable walking out at the start in lesser surroundings than he been used to for some time. Replaced mid second half and I wonder if he is knocking on the first team door once again?
9) Dele Adebola - Rarely troubled. And would you expect him to be by the Scunny kids. On a couple of occasions he was rattled by some hard tackles but in his Professional manner just got on with the job to hand. I hate the cliche, but he 'put in a great shift' for the 60 minutes or so he was on the pitch.
10) Kealan Dillon - I was impressed with him. Looked to have plenty of promise and not short of skill and precision in his passing. He was blowing a tug by the middle of the second half when he was switched to a wider right role. Excellent finish for his goal. As Dejan, I d say worth pursuing on trial if finance and contractual pressures allow!
11) Danny Emerton - A constant live-wire. Full of energy and a fantastic burst of pace. Two goals, the first of which could have graced Old Trafford a couple of weeks ago in the guise of a superb strike by Ashley Young. I d split any MoM award between him and Fran McCaffery.

Cant be arsed with the subs assessment, but suffice to say, neither Douglas Wilson (midfield for Harper), Jonathan Margetts (forward for Dele Adabola 'Curry) and Jules Gabbiadini (I think) (midfield for McCaffery) let the team down in a convincing trouncing. I was going to say 'win', but it was much more than that.

 

Cheers mussie for the comprehensive update, slight criticism matey, any chance if you post again like this you could break it up about instead of posting in a huge block and maybe name the goal scorers separately on their own.

Most people just want to know who scored and who played well.

Thanks again though matey.

 

8 - 0 to city. McCaffery and Emerton were the best of a good bunch. McCaffery (3), Emerton (2), Dillon, Kelhar, OG scorers. For all those who prefer not to read my babble!!!

 

Top dollar.

Thank you very much Mussie... Good man.

I would never describe your writing as babble. If it had not been for you, we would not have known the result nor the indepth analysis.

 

one mans view and typed as it leaves my head though

 

Excellent post thank you

 

Cheers for this article, very interesting.

 

put it this way if i was given the choice of having Devitt or Atkinson back, i d ttake the Irish kid from Derby everytime. Probably a bigger decision on the Slovenian though? he reminded a little of a shorter Jack Hobbs, or indeed, james Chester but not as good?

 

thanks for the write up Mussie. we don't see much in the press about the reserves & juniors so postings like this help us exiles keep up with what is happening and what the future may hold.

 

Thaks , great as always.

Top Man

 

Good report cheers, though this line made me laugh, "Joe Cracknell - Great young prospect who I think could soon trump Mark Oxley in the pecking order". To be honest i think even I trump Oxley in the pecking order and so does my Aunty Barbara!!

 

Mussie, what does McCaffery look like? Height, build, style of play etc? Qualities and attributes?

 

Thanks for the report - appreciated.

 

well if it makes it clearer, McCaffery is a similar style player to Danny Emerton. Perhaps a little taller, stockier and longer hair! I think he may also be a year younger.

 

i am jn portugal at the moment no.1, and my phone well be on bobbins but is that 700 odd views of this thread? If there that much interest in the reserves why dont more people go?