Coach finds 'positives' in young Blues' 8-0 reserve defeat
Mark Birch said there were “positives” to be taken from Carlisle United’s heavy reserve defeat to Morecambe – and he respected the club’s decision not to field any senior players.
A teenage Blues XI lost 8-0 to a visiting side full of first-team players.
It was a tough afternoon at Penrith’s Frenchfield Park for the young United side.
But coach Birch felt it was a good learning experience for his up-and-coming players.
“We have to take the positives out of it – and, do you know what, there were a lot of positives,” he said.
“I thought for the first half an hour we really made a good game of it. I actually thought we were probably the better team for half an hour.
“But we have to take away the [lesson] that when they're 1-0 up and we get a good chance, we have to score.
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“That's another thing that we've mentioned to the lads. The higher you go up, the amount of chances that you have become less.
“We've got to be a little bit more ruthless in front of goal.
“We’ve also gone through all the goals and we think probably half of them are preventable.
“But for young lads to play against a team that's virtually Morecambe’s first team, it's always going to be a tough challenge.
“But what an experience, and we'll use that for a learning opportunity for ourselves.”
United’s XI was made up entirely of youth team players along with fit-again third-year scholar Aran Fitzpatrick.
They went up against a Morecambe side with hundreds of Football League appearances in the likes of Yann Songo’o, David Tutonda, Paul Lewis and ex-Blues striker Hallam Hope, who scored twice.
United head coach Mike Williamson opted not to involve any of his senior fringe players, preferring to work with them on the training pitch.
“We'll always back what the club want to do,” said Birch.
“If the manager thinks it's best for him to keep his players together and to get them on the training field, who are we to question that?
“We’ll support whichever way the manager goes.
“Our [academy] lads have had an opportunity to come down here and play against Football League players.
“There are probably over 1,000 appearances when you look at all the players Morecambe used, and we were bringing players on who we had to get out of school.
“We have to put the game in perspective. Nobody wants to lose, but at the same time, there's a lot of learning for every single player in that team.
“At half-time we thought, ‘Let’s take the scoreline out of it – can we stay with the game?’
“You have to give a bit of credit to Morecambe as well, because their players probably didn't want to be up here playing in this game, but I thought they went about it in a half-decent way.”
Morecambe manager Derek Adams and his assistant, the former Carlisle captain Danny Grainger, were at Penrith to oversee things for the visitors while Birch and fellow under-18 coach Jamie Devitt took charge of the Blues.
Fitzpatrick played an hour on his return from a hamstring injury while United were without the injured pair of Hayden Atkinson and Trent Chapman, while keeper Thomas Randall was not involved as he is currently with the first team squad.
“These lads have played a lot of football over the first half of the season, so the Christmas break can't come quick enough now. We can patch them up, ready to go again,” added Birch.
“The game schedule dies down a little bit, so then we can reflect on the first part of the season and then work more individually with the lads.
“With all the games we have, a lot of credit also has to go to the sports science coaches within the youth team and the physios who constantly keep getting players out on the pitch.”
