By Lloyd Webb
Steve Gatting has hailed Arsenal Under-21s' performance in their 2-1 win at Derby County on Monday night.
Kaylen Hinds and Stephy Mavididi scored to close the gap on the league leaders to just two points, despite having to play the second half with 10 men following Ben Sheaf’s red card.
"In the end I think we deserved the three points. In terms of winning the league that was very important"
Gatting says his side’s hard-working display made them worthy winners at the iPro Stadium.
“I’m very proud of them,” he told Arsenal Player. “They deserve a lot of credit. It is always difficult going down to 10 men, and playing for so long with 10 men.
“It was a whole half and they went out to get the goal that won the game. That is very pleasing. I thought some of the referee’s decisions went against the boys, but they kept going and showed a lot of character at the end.
“They were going to get chances when we went down to 10 men, but it was a good team performance defensively. We showed a lot of concentration at the back, won a lot of headers and credit to the other five in front of the back four, they defended it well.
“They kept their shape, went with runners and it was a good disciplined second-half performance. In the end I think we deserved the three points. In terms of winning the league that was very important.”
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