Notts Head of Academy Coaching Andy McMillan wasn’t too disheartened after the Youth Team’s first loss in pre-season away to Sheffield United...
The young Magpies lost 5-1 to the Blades with Reece Fyfe scoring a late consolation, but McMillan believes he learnt a lot from the performance and will now be looking for the players to bounce-back with two more friendlies this week.
He told the Official Site: “You can’t grumble too much as it’s only our second pre-season game. Looking back we’ve learnt a lot from today.
“The better side won on the day and in truth, we could have conceded a couple more. We need to work a bit more on our fitness and then go back to some of the work we did earlier in the week on shape, especially defensively.
“But it’s still early days. You don’t win anything in pre-season and our sole concentration is building up to our first game, away to Burton Albion.”
The Youth Team continue their preparation for the new season with two more games this week, both away from Nottingham, against Winslow on Wednesday and Cheltenham Town on Saturday.
McMillan added: “We will go away, analyse the game and see how we can improve ahead of these two good fixtures.
“Rhys Myers and Brad McGowan organised the defence well, whilst striker Anthony Dwyer put in another shift upfront. He still needs to work on helping us retain the ball and holding the ball up.
“It’s a little knock after such a high from last week’s win, but we will go again, training has been good again and I’m looking forward to getting back to work on Monday morning with the lads.”
On the pitch adjacent, the club's Under 16s drew with their Sheffield counterparts 3-3 in a good performance in scorching summer conditions.
View the Youth Team’s pre-season schedule by clicking here.
Magpie Player subscribers will be able to watch highlights of the game early next week.