United boss Paul Simpson made two injury enforced changes to his starters for Saturday’s home game against Doncaster Rovers with teenager Jack Ellis in for Fin Back and striker Ryan Edmondson in for fellow forward Kris Dennis.
Ellis, who turns 19 next Monday, put in an outstanding display as he complemented his defensive duties with timely and purposeful forays forward.
“The one thing I wanted to make a point of to the group was that one of our most consistent performers all season has been Fin Back,” manager Paul Simpson told us. “He was absent, and Jack Ellis was in a position a couple of weeks ago where he’s starting to question whether he’s going to get another chance.
“He was asking whether or not he should come and speak to the manager about possibly going out on loan, and these sorts of things.
“But he kept doing things right in training, he’s worked hard and done everything properly, and I thought he was outstanding.
“He grew into the game and looked really positive, not only on the defensive side but with the way he supported the attacking play.
“I thought George Miller would be a real threat, with him coming back from injury, but he nullified him.
“I felt Molyneux would cause problems, but Jack stuck to his task, he blocked crosses and stopped them from getting the ball into the box.”
“He was excellent,” he continued. “One other threat apart from Molyneux and Miller was Adam Clayton. He can cause problems and we limited him to playing his passes from quite deep.
“Jack did what he was asked to do and he stopped no end of crosses going in. He was really dogged in his defending, so I’m delighted with him, really pleased.
“It’s quite interesting, when I was walking in, Fin Back was stood waiting for all the players and I just said - you’ve got a job on your hands to get back in.
“He said don’t say that to me gaffer, everybody’s been winding me up about it all afternoon. This is what you want - players to come in and perform, do the job that keeps it all ticking over ready for when we have other players available.
“Then it’s not a case of dropping people, it’s a case of rotating it. One of the players I’ve spoken about with the rest of the staff is Corey Whelan.
“Since I came into the club Morgan Feeney has probably been our most consistent performer. Because of the way Corey’s come into the team, it’s not even a consideration to leave him out.
“That’s testament to how he’s gone about it. Jack Ellis was the same, not only his defending, I thought he did really well in forward areas as well. He’s been excellent.
“He’s one of those players who, I’m a bit sad, I don’t know why I do it, when I’m driving home I always think about what’s gone on in the day and think about what I could have done better or differently, and all that sort of rubbish.
“Jack’s one of those people who very rarely comes into my head, because he quietly goes about his business and does things right. He’s waited for that chance.
“I did speak to him on Monday and told him that if Fin isn’t fit to start he’d play, so he needed to make sure he was ready and that he got everything he possibly could from the county cup game on Tuesday.
“I wanted to tell him early, because we actually didn’t expect Fin to be right. Thankfully he’s done it all properly and got his rewards out of it.”
