Taken from a fb page After making his first-team debut for his boyhood club, Harrison Jones has described tonight’s appearance against Preston North End as ‘the best day of his life.’ With his family no doubt watching on from afar, Jones stepped out for his boyhood club in what was a momentous occasion. “It’s a dream come true,” he admitted. “I have been here since the age of five, making my debut has always been the end goal that I’ve always strived to get. “Countless years of hard work and sacrifices by my family. My mam, dad, grandad, nana. They’ve helped me get here so a big thank you to them. I’m really really proud. “I’ve been here since I was five, local lad and a season ticket holder for a few years. I love the Club and I love the red and white.” As soon as he stepped across the white line, the objective was to get into his stride from the off as he continued: “I’m usually nervous when I’m not on the pitch but for me, when I get on the pitch, I’m fine and I’m in the flow. “Once you get your first touch, I am fully in the game by then. It’s just controlling my nerves before the game is the tough part. I always try and be positive when I am on the pitch.” please log in to view this image
Happy for him, he did okay. Nice to see RLB already integrating the academy lads, a real sea change from how we did things under the likes of Moyes or Poyet.
I still think we could have beaten PNE last night with a bit of flexibility, the next 3 points are more important now OaU. .
Thanks for that analysis. I also think we didn't fare too badly against a well established quite physical Championship side. In fact I was very surprised at some of the negative comments particularly OTR.Our reserve side was in no way disgraced and simply lacked the physicality to compete at times. I'm still looking forward to the new season and think quite a few individuals from last night will thrive with first team players around them.
I'm sure we could've beaten them, I just don't think that was what RLB had in mind at all. A thought clicked into my mind when he brought Harrison Jones on. It wasn't a match winning move in any way imo, no offence to the lad. I honestly believe, after what RLB's twice said about the huge amount of Championship games, that he wanted this competition out of the way. Whether that's in accordance with Speakman, and the club, is another question ... ... the answer is 'yes' in my opinion. Ekwah went down injured last night and that's something we can do without. We can also down without a midweek trip to Plymouth. Last season, and the one before, saw our young squad blown out by Easter and half the team injured and missing. That was a 90 minute training exercise imo.
It wasn't billed as such tho, and I would have welcomed another game for our back up squad. Also I have heard the draw for this particular cup is regional, but I am not quite sure where I heard or that this is the case ?. Not that that matters now.
I'm with you, love a good cup run. It's just my belief that as French L1 has 38 games, and we have 46, Reg has swerved it. We don't, at the moment, have great strength in depth and that may decrease ... ... so I think he's just being practical. Another 8 games is a lot and, with any postponements which are often shoehorned in at the end, it gets messy.
The annoying thing is Ba takes that simple chance when we were slightly in the ascendancy and the confidence would have spread through a young side - I know we lost by two and these are fine margins but they take their first break (poor defending but still slightly fortunate) and we miss what was to be fair a relatively straight forward opportunity. It is clear the lack of a confident striker is a hinderance and must deflate those providing the supply. We do seem to have put our eggs in one basket with mendy who from the clips looks OK but will still have to get use to the Championship. I am fully behind whatever team goes out on the pitch but I do understand the frustration of even the true fans over the lack of a striker for so long
Agree mate. I think it was definitely a low priority game which RLB used to assess which players to keep and which to release. In light of the "news" that Clarke might be signing a 2 year extension, it was interesting to see RLB try Mundle, Ba and Bennette on the left wing. With Roberts looking better against Cardiff and the arrival of Poveda, RLB may think he's happy with the RW situation but needed to see who he would have as understudy to Clarke, with a view to moving the other 2 on. My only concern if it was a 'shop window' exercise, was that not enough of them gave a good account of themselves.
Bennette will be trained up as Cirkin's understudy imo. He's quick and likes a tackle but, above all, could keep up with Clarke and support him. Mundle is more of a striker playing behind a Quinn. Although, tbh, I haven't seen enough of either to really judge.
If that's the case, I hope the training starts now, because we could have tried Bennette at LB last night. Anderson was appalling. Mundle does have blistering pace and a tendency to dribble inside and let fly, much like Clarke. Ba worries me. A couple of seasons ago when him, Michut and Bennette arrived, I said on here that I had a feeling that Ba will be the best signing Speakman has made. I think I was wrong. He seems lost to me. Maybe @Scout is right, and his best position is RWB. The problem is, we don't play with wing backs. He's been tried up front, as a 10, an 8 and as a winger. You can see the talent is there, but can we unlock it? Two seasons have gone by and we haven't yet.
Don't think it's fair to judge our supposed 2nd string on that game. Barring a huge catastrophe that team won't play another competitive game together. Surround 3 or 4 of them with our 1st team and they may have fared a lot better. We certainly weren't embarrassed last night and I'm not particularly upset to be out of the League Cup but a part of me does feel those fans that travelled down for that game on a Tuesday night were let down by the team selection.
I went with 2 of sons and grandson and didn't feel let down by the team selection at all, in fact I predicted the exact 11 before we set off. I agree with @Smug in Boots that Regis saw the game as an option to have another look at the players, which he could determine which to keep/lian/sell, as well as giving important minutes to certain players. Quite a few of those players would perform significantly better in a "first" team environment, so I am not as worried as some.
Forgot to add to my post earlier that there were a lot of under 10 children in the away end, some young as 6 or so which shows the club are in safe hands on the terraces, it was very nice to see.
Glad to hear your insight mate as someone who went to the game last night. I wasn't attempting to put words in your mouth apologies if that's how it came across. I always have a thought to the away fans after a defeat so its a thought that crossed my mind but I'm happy to hear you didn't feel that way. I'm also not worried we've got a few in that group who would step up if needed. I would start to get worried if we sold Clarke and didn't sign a replacement or a centre forward but hopefully we won't get to that.
Don't need to apologise mate, I assume there may be some supporters who were but I am "trying" to see the bigger picture. Think we have a Clarke replacement in Mundle (or Watson further down the line) but hopefully that isn't required too soon. I agree we need a CF ASAP (Mendy or equivalent) but I am confident that will happen.
