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Gatting - It was a good lesson for us

By Lloyd Webb

Steve Gatting says Arsenal Under-18s’ penalty shoot-out win against Coventry was "good lesson" for his side.

The Gunners led in the final minute of extra-time in their FA Youth Cup fifth-round tie on Monday night, only to concede a last-gasp equaliser.

Hugo Keto saved three penalties in the shoot-out to book a quarter-final tie against Liverpool, and Gatting says the game was quite a footballing education for his side.

"When it goes to penalties you are in the lap of the gods. You watch and you are nervous and you can’t do anything about it"

Steve Gatting

“It is a good lesson for them,” he told Arsenal Player. “Cup tie football is what it is all about. The main thing is to get through and sometimes you play well and you lose. Tonight, we didn’t play well and we won.

"It was a game where it was about winning and not so much about development. Alongside that, we learnt a lot of lessons going into the game against Liverpool.

"It was disappointing - we were very poor with our finishing. When we crawled our way back to 2-1, it was a bit disappointing to let the last goal in to make it 2-2. I don’t think we handled the situation too well at 2-1 up.

“When it goes to penalties you are in the lap of the gods. You watch and you are nervous and you can’t do anything about it. It can go either way and on the night we went through. The goalkeepers are either the heroes or the villains, and Hugo was the hero."

Keto celebration v Coventry City