Steve Gatting spoke to Arsenal.com after his side beat West Brom Under-21s 1-0 at Emirates Stadium on Thursday evening.
on the performance and the result…
It was a difficult game. I said to the boys afterwards that I was pleased with the resilience they showed during stages of the second half. We went 1-0 up and kept that goal lead. We had something to play for and all credit to the boys for having that winning mentality.
on how the players responded to playing at the Emirates…
It's a great experience for them. Some of them have played here before, we had some first-team players playing and for the ones that haven't it's a great experience for them and one that should be cherished.
on showing a different side to their game in the second half…
In the first half we created several chances, I thought our attacking play was excellent. In the second half I thought we tired a little bit and at times West Brom came into the game and that's where we showed our defending ability.
on improving after a tough pre-season…
We are a very young side, the games in pre-season that we found difficult were against experienced players and adults. They learnt a lot from it, you learn a lot from losing probably more than you do from winning. We've made a good start to the under-21 league season and that's very encouraging.
on a good warm-up for the Youth League game against Marseille…
Again, it's good experience for them. The Youth League is another good experience for all of them. It's something to look forward to and something to aspire to.
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