Mehmet: “The response was excellent”

Mehmet Ali was pleased with our response to going a goal down in Friday’s 1-1 draw at home to Leeds United.

The away side went ahead in the 32nd minute of the Premier League 2 fixture, but Josh Robinson scored an equaliser for us early in the second half.

“I felt that we controlled large parts and spells of the game, which was good to see,” he said. “We had a different group today because we’ve had a lot of boys go out on loan, which is brilliant for them and something that they need for their development and I was pleasantly surprised with a lot of the second year scholars who played with bravery, good forward intent and it shows a lot of the good work that we’re doing in the PDP and the 18s have been doing because I thought they stepped up to the challenge really well.

“Frustrated with the goal that we gave away. I think it’s an avoidable goal and we need to communicate and make sure we’re scanning, but that’s our playing style, we’ve just got to be better at it. Having said that, the boys’ response was excellent. We stayed calm, got our reward with a goal and I felt we could’ve gone on to win the game.

“In terms of preparation, we’re almost rebuilding now, looking at helping the younger boys establish themselves in 21s football, understand our culture and what we’re trying to do within the 21s. The older boys have got a lot of responsibility for that and the younger ones need to come and step up and embrace the opportunity they’ve got and I felt that a lot of them did that tonight.”

Next up, we host Southampton at Meadow Park on Friday, February 16.

“We just said to them, this is the start of something for the rest of the season,” Mehmet added. “A lot of them will be following our programme, they need to really work hard in training to earn the right to get in the starting 11 and that comes from what we do on the training pitch. Then, when they do get opportunities they need to try to embrace them and take them.”