FC Halifax Town U19’s James Sunderland took the positives out of the game against Hartlepool in the FA Youth Cup last night and believed that him and the side deserved a bit more than what they got from the match.
“I thought we played well, we passed the ball really well.” He said
“We tried to pass it out from the back and go forward, we were the better team but we just weren’t clinical enough in the final third. It is a tough one to take.” Sunderland added.
The fixture against Hartlepool United was always going to be a tough game for Mark Trueman’s young stars, but the midfielder explained the difficulty of working out how the opposition were going to play, even after doing the initial work on their opponents.
“We did our homework on them of course but we did not expect some of their players to be playing, you can work on them but then you need to see their team sheet and then work out how to deal with their set pieces.“
FC Halifax Town youth managed a comeback last season against York, this time it just wasn’t to be but Sunderland, celebrating his birthday said it was always in the back of the players’ minds which did give them confidence.
“Last year we did it against York when we were 2-0 down, which gave us confidence that we could do it again, it was always in the back of our minds, especially because of some of the lads that we have here.” Sunderland said.
“We did not stop and lie down; we kept on going right to the very end which you could tell from our performance.” He added.
After a first half of the team being up against it, Trueman and his team changed it around and went more attacking, Sunderland said it meant everything to the players.
“When we changed the tactics during the second half, we got the big centre half up top and every time the ball went forward, everyone wanted to get on the end of the crosses as it means so much to us especially with it being the FA Cup.”
Sam Clayton, the goal scorer for the away side put in a professional performance and also took his goal well.
“He was class today, did a job in the back four, and he managed to score a good goal as well. He got himself about. Sunderland said.
“Especially after him coming in this year.” He added.
Mark Trueman’s side will now go on to play Farsley Celtic in the league but Sunderland believes that the team can go and win the league, and get into the national cup.
“Our aim is to win the league, and get into the national cup”
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