Vince Oveson with reaction to the Preston game
Youth coach Vince Overson spoke to us about the impressive performance in away draw against Preston at the weekend."We were very pleased," he said. "We work on things during the week and the hope is that they take them into game situations. The previous game wasn't the best we've ever played in - it ended in a heavy defeat - but we've seen a real improvement from that this week.
"We highlighted a few deficiencies after the Oldham game and I was so pleased for the lads because it was a 0-0 moral victory for us on Saturday. They knew the previous game wasn't their best performance but they responded magnificently, and we probably deserved to win it in the end."
"It was a great performance from all 11 players, both individually and as a team," he continued. "They give everything they've got every day, but some of them have struggled to cope with a match situation in recent weeks. It's a case of maintaining that confidence and self belief because we know technically we're as good as most other teams.
"Everything seemed to click on Saturday. Before the game they seemed really confident and up for it. You always know you're going to have to compete for every ball against Preston and they did that."
"Jordan [Marshall] was devastated when he got sent off, but he'll learn from it," he said. "He had a great game. They were a big, physical side and he stuck to his task well all day.
"The first booking he got was harsh, but the second was a really blatant hand ball. As soon as he did it, he walked off, so we can't have too much to complain about. He took one for the team, because their lad was through, and it was just a natural reaction from him. When he came off I told him not to worry about it because it's just part of the game. He's gutted but I'm sure he'll come back even more determined to do well."
And on the daily process of working with the players, he said: "We try and highlight small details after every performance to make sure they can keep improving.
"We sit down with the DVD and look at how the game went, and it's also important to look at things individual players have done well and also at how they can learn from their mistakes.
"We have to make sure they know why they're doing certain things. If we highlight the positives, and get them to think about why it went so well, they can start to think about how their actions benefit the team. I think the most difficult part of their game is the tactical awareness. They're very capable technically but, from a tactical point of view, they sometimes don't appreciate what they're doing.
"We've done the six week reviews this week and they are designed to give the lads an idea of where they are in their development. They have a two year scholarship and the six week reviews are some of the building blocks which make up those two years. We look at how they've progressed since their last review, what they've learned and whether they've taken it into game situations.
"This is another positive side of EPPP. We always used to give players reviews but they tended to be done verbally. Everything is documented now and it means they get a physical copy which they can look back on so they can see how far they've progressed. It's a learning tool and, for me, any learning tool is a positive."
United: Fowler, Hurley, Pearson, Quigley, Marshall, Taylor, Bradbury, Moyes, Blackburn, Hammell, Elliott. Subs: Eccles, Robson, Rudd, Brown, Whitehead.
Next Up - Accrington Stanley v United, Saturday 20 September, kick off 12pm
