Eric Kinder spoke to us about the Youth victory over Wrexham:

"The Gillford Park pitch can be a difficult one when it's wet, because it tends to act like a sponge.

We started off poorly because of that, and it took us a little bit of time to adapt. We didn't get in to the game during the first ten minutes at all, but we have to recognise that they went in to it on a five game unbeaten run.

They will have fancied their chances, and they started with a much brighter attitude than we did. They pressed us back and kept the ball really well, but it was us that scored off our first real attack. Davison and Duffy linked up together to release Andy Cook, and he smashed it in to the back of the net.

I honestly felt that we were fortunate to be one up, but you take it when it comes. That was the catalyst that we needed though because we suddenly became very, very good.

We played some great football after that and we could have had the game buried by half time. We missed so many chances that I started to lose count, and there was a nagging doubt in the back of my mind that we were going to be made to pay for it.

There was some relief when we got our second. Andy Cook did really well on the right when he held off three challenges and then cut inside. He then rolled the ball on for Liam Davison, and he finished it really well.

I really wanted to see us maybe put another one away before half time, and I think that would have killed the game, but we went the other way and we allowed ourselves to relax again.

They came at us and they got their reward when they pulled it back to 2-1.

The second half was more disappointing than anything else. We never really got going at all. Both sides looked lethargic and there was no real tempo to the game from either side.

We talked about it afterwards, and they all played for the Reserve team in midweek, so maybe that had something to do with it. It had also rained heavily, so the pitch didn't make life any easier. As we keep saying, I have no problems with the lads being involved in the Reserves because it is a different kind of test for them. I want them involved with that as much as they can be, as much for their football education as anything else.

The legs were definitely struggling for that last half hour or so, and I think that was understandable. Credit to the Gillford staff though, because they did well to get any kind of decent surface for us after the weather that we have been having up here.

Mind you, we still created some really good chances in the second half. Ryan Bowman had two, Cook had one, Seaton headed over and McDougall missed one on the back post that he was gutted about.

When you only have a one goal advantage you are on a knife edge. They had a really strong claim for a penalty towards the end of the half, and if we didn't get anything from the officials last week then I think it was made up for with this decision this time round.

I was pleased that we saw it through because we had so many chances, and it would have been a travesty if we'd gone to penalties to settle it.

The lesson to learn from this is that you have to kill teams off, especially if it is a knock out competition. We didn't do that, so it's something for us to discuss.

Overall I am delighted with the result, and I am happy with the number of chances that we made. The important thing is that we won and got ourselves through to the next round.

If we can win the next one, at the back end of this month, then we can put this competition to bed until March. It would be great to still be involved for that, because we want to be contesting things come the end of the season. This is certainly a competition that we can do well in."

Team - Mitchell, Lakeland, Aldred, Cleary, Duffy, Law (Seaton 65), Blake, Davison, Tinnion, Bowman (McDougall 70), Cook. Subs - Gillespie, Swinglehurst, Wood.