Youth team boss on turning up the heat on league leaders…
NEIL WOODS watched his side run out 6-1 winners over Accrington Stanley on Friday afternoon and called on his players to maintain their performance levels with the business end of the season fast approaching.The Saddlers starlets made light work of their opponents, helped by a goal inside 60 seconds by in-form frontman Cameron Peters.
Peters would go on to notch a brace on Accrington’s 3G surface, as would Brendan Pooni, with Nathan Owen and Maziar Kouhyar completing the rout.
“From a league perspective all we can do is keep winning,” said Woods. "We’ve got nine games left and play Wigan (1st) and Bury (3rd) in the last two matches of the season so it might be a great finale or too little too late.
“The pleasing thing for me is that we seem to be getting better each and every week.
“At this stage of the season performance levels can drop but the lads have been magnificent and extremely professional.”
The youngsters have won 11 of their 19 games so far this season, propelling them to second place in the Youth Alliance North West division.
Their latest victory ensured the Saddlers kept up the front-runners whilst extending a healthy goal difference to 19.
“Cameron [Peters] scored after the first minute with a header and by the twelfth minute he added his second," he added. “It ended up 4-0 at half time but the biggest thing that pleased me was the fact that we played the same way at 0-0 as we did at 4-0.
“There’s a real maturity about the group. Nobody got too clever and we kept doing the right thing.
“The first half was always going to be a little difficult to replicate and credit to Accrington. They had a go and scored from a corner we didn’t defend very well but it kicked us into gear again.
“It was good to see Brendan Pooni score two goals. He’s had a difficult year with injury and illness so it’s good to see him among the goals.
“It was just a really positive afternoon. In the way we approached the game and with the football we play, we carry a real threat.
“And we look like we’re enjoying our football as well which is what we’re all about."