Eric Kinder on the amazing 8-1 win over Rochdale:
"After the disappointment of the Youth Cup game against Crewe, where I felt that we didn't perform at all, the one thing that I asked for against Rochdale was a response.
I think this group got themselves in to a position where they believed they were going to win just by turning up, and Crewe gave them a bit of a wake up call.
I certainly got my response because we were terrific.
We went in to the game without Connor Tinnion, because he was struggling with a heel injury, and Chris McDougall has been going through a tough time with a niggly injury as well. On top of that, we lost John Seaton just before the kick off when he started feeling really ill. I put him on the bench but he was never going to get on.
That allowed me to have Mark Sloan, Steven Swinglehurst and a young lad called Gavin Reilly, who has signed for our U16 side on trial, out on the pitch.
He was with Carlisle a few years ago but they let him go, and he was poached by Glasgow Rangers. He eventually ended up with Queen of the South until we were given the opportunity to bring him back here. He has impressed me in the way that he has dealt with training so he is one that I will monitor for the next month or so, and we'll see how he does from there.
We started the game brightly, and Andy Cook thundered another unbelievable goal in to the back of the net from well over 20-yards away. I never thought that we were in any danger after that. Again, with Cook, he scores his early goal and you all start to look towards his hat-trick. It was noticeable that there was no real reaction from the bench when he scored his wonder goal, and that's because they are all so used to seeing it now.
His three goals have taken him to 26 for the season, which is one over the Christmas target that I set him. That's absolutely incredible by the lad. I can't speak highly enough of him at the moment. He can't do it without the rest of the team, though, and I thought the whole side were outstanding.
It was nice to see Mark Sloan get his first goal at this level and I'm looking forward to seeing him in action next year. Ryan Bowman got back on to the score sheet, which was important for him, because he lost his place recently. He knows what I want from him, and if he keeps giving it to me then he'll get his place back again.
Matt Duffy played in the centre of midfield because of the absentees and he did a very good job. He's a good footballer because he can fill a number of positions. He sometimes needs a bit of a kick to get him going, but he has heaps of ability that should stand him in good stead.
Overall it was an outstanding response and we go in to Christmas top of our league. Burnley will be annoyed, because they have missed a couple of games, but we have taken advantage and put some pressure on. That's nice for the players, but my job after Christmas is to get as many of these second year boys through to the first team as possible.
It's been a fantastic end to a fantastic year."
United - Mitchell (Gillespie 69), Lakeland, Aldred, Cleary, Swinglehurst, Law, Davison, Blake, Duffy (Sloan 75), Bowman (Reilly 70), Cook. Subs not used - Seaton.
