It’s now one win and one defeat this season in the Central League cup qualification stages for United following their 3-2 victory over Blackpool at Frenchfield Park on Tuesday afternoon.
Dan Butterworth was the popular choice for man-of-the-match, and his goal was complemented by two assists as he helped Terry Ablade to a brace, and the team to their eventual win.
“It’s always nice to win,” assistant manager Gav Skelton said. “These games are about minutes in the legs, but we made a point at the start of saying the most important thing was for us to win the game.
“We got in front and you could see players’ confidence growing from that – that’s where you get confidence, from winning games.
“It’s pleasing to win it, we’ve seen some pleasing performances and things like how to manage the game better in the end. At 3-0 up we maybe got a little bit excited, we made it more difficult than perhaps we needed to.
“Overall it was pleasing. All the lads we wanted to get 90 minutes got 90 minutes, so that’s good. And after the negatives of previous reserve games I thought they did very well, so credit to them.
“Especially the senior lads. They drove the talk before the game on winning and how to win, we didn’t want to play it as a testimonial or a ‘friendly’ friendly, we wanted it to be competitive.
“We talked about playing in their half, which we did early on, we didn’t give them any encouragement. We wanted them to stop playing out, which we did, and we had a bit of joy from that. We tried to approach it in a really correct manner.
“We spoke about how to play in these games, to play it as properly as you can, to get the ball in their half. The first team players who have come from a good level, get it up to them, see what they can do, be solid at the back, and we did that.
“We tried to ask questions of their defence. They might say they had a few opportunities as well, and we did too, which was from some real positive play in their final third.”
“We’re really pleased with the outcome,” he added. “We made a lot of chances and watched some really good performances right through.
“To create that many chances and score goals is pleasing. Sometimes we’ve spoken about negatives coming out of these games, from this we can speak about positives.
“And it feels good in the dressing room. They’re as disappointed as anyone if thigs don’t go well. It’s not nice to get beat, so I’ve told them to enjoy the feeling of winning and playing well.
“It was a really competitive fixture, thankfully we’ve come out on the right side of it. Like I say, sometimes there’s been negatives coming out of them, today it’s lots of positives.
“It does hurt them, getting beat or whatever, not performing as they can. That’s why you take a kick there, and you enjoy this because it’s something to build on. It shows what they can do. It’s just about doing it on a consistent level.
“We scored our goals based on a strong back four platform, and the two young lads in midfield gave us a strong base in the middle of the pitch which allowed our front four to go and cause problems.
“I thought they worked hard out of possession at times, I always want them to work harder, but some of the attacking play was really good.”
Youth team players Jake Allan, Aran Fitzpatrick and Will Maddison started the game, with appearances for Josh O’Brien and Sam Hetherington towards the end.
“I thought all three who started did credit to themselves,” he told us. “Sometimes in reserve games it’s hard for senior pros, it used to be a reserve league where you played every Wednesday, whereas now it’s more development games.
“That doesn’t give it the right spin in a competitive edge as it should. Sometimes when the young lads play, it’s a big opportunity for them, and they did very well.
“And the surface is brilliant. It’s good to play on, and been at a stadium for these games gives it a good feel, so thank you to Penrith for hosting us.”
And looking ahead to the weekend, he commented: “It’s exciting. A real challenge for us and I’m sure we’ll rise to the occasion.
“It’s a great place to go to, albeit a long journey, but you want to test yourselves against the best. Currently they are the best in the league, but we’ll go there, looking forward to it and looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s one of the fixtures you look at, without taking your eye off the others, it’s the next one so it's the most important.”
