Gary Caldwell praises Exeter City academy as youngsters progress

EXETER City manager Gary Caldwell felt it was a good week for the club’s Academy as they enjoyed success at both Under-18 and Under-21 level.

On Tuesday, City’s youngsters thrashed AFC Dunstable 4-0 in the second round of the FA Youth Cup, which set up a third round date with Stevenage.

The team consisted of a lot of 15 and 16-year-olds, due to the Grecians’ Under-21 side having a Premier League Cup match at Norwich City the following evening, which required players from the 18s. And Tom Dean’s injury-time strike sealed a 1-0 win for the Grecians and ensured an impressive progression from the group stage with two games to go.

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“I think it’s amazing what we have done in that competition this year, but I didn’t get to see the game,” Caldwell said. “Norwich were going to stream it but, for some reason, they didn’t. We did in our game and they didn’t in theirs, so I don’t know if they are being a bit petty because we have beaten them twice and they are a Cat One Academy!

“I saw it was 0-0 and I thought: ‘brilliant, that would be a fantastic point given our players travelled up on the day of the game and how young the team was.’ It was a brilliant cross by Jake (Richards) and Tom Dean arrived, as he does, in the six-yard box, to score and it was brilliant, a remarkable achievement for the boys and hopefully the competition can give them more games, better games and better experiences because what they have done so far has been absolutely brilliant.”

On the 18s, Caldwell said: “We had to play a younger team because we put more emphasis on the Under-21 game. There were a few players that travelled after the game to be on the bench (at Norwich), so it was a week where the Academy was tested because we had to play young players in both competitions and for them to win both games with clean sheets in the way they did is fantastic.”

The Grecians really value the Premier League Cup with the competition seeing the likes of Matt Grimes, Ollie Watkins, Joel Randall and Josh Key gain valuable experience at a level between Under-18s and the first team in years gone by.

In fact, with the Grecians faring well themselves this season at first team level and the women sitting fourth in the National League Southern Premier Division following their promotion to the third tier last season, the club as a whole is in very good health.

“It’s great for the whole club that it is in such a good place, the women’s team are doing well, we are obviously doing well in the league and EFL Trophy – and still in the FA Cup – so it is important that the whole club really builds on this momentum,” Caldwell said.