Professional Development Phase Coach Ben King has been pleased with how three Under 18s players are progressing while out on loan.
Marvellous Onabirekhanlen and Dan Baldwin are both enjoying a stint with Midland League Premier Division side Worcester City while striker Shay Willock is playing at Worcester Raiders, who play in the Hellenic League Premier Division.
King believes the experience they’re gaining being around senior players will be valuable to them and he’s happy with the progress they are making.
“They’re doing really well,” King said.
“Marv has become a bit of a fans favourite there as well; he scored a goal the other week.
“Dan seems to be getting forward well, getting some crosses in so it’s good exposure to men’s football at a decent standard. It’s fantastic for them.
“The same for Shay, he was scoring goals and doing really well. The loans are fantastic because they’re in and around us still and training a couple of times a week but they’re going there and dealing with fans and playing with experienced players, which does help.
“The style of football, the changing room environment because when they’re at Under 18s it’s very much teenagers but if you go to a changing room in and around an environment where it’s adults and senior players, you gain that experience, you’re able to talk to them and it’s a completely different environment to some degree.
“It’s trying to mimic a first team environment and that’s what we’ve got to try and do and why we try and get these players out on loan is to go and experience that if at any point they are in and around the first team, they’re used to it.”
Another player who has been exposed to the first team environment is goalkeeper George Barrett who was named on the bench last weekend against Carlisle United.
King revealed Barrett has been doing a lot of extra work and was pleased to see him given an opportunity.
“I’m delighted for him,” he commented.
“It’s been really good with the goalkeepers, they’ve been up with the first team quite a bit and George in particular as a first year coming out of a school environment, an academy environment and then coming into the Under 18s, he’s still quite young.
“He’s matured very quickly through that which is really nice. He’s shown that in his character, he’s really working on things he needs to work on, for example his distribution, which is fantastic.
“He’s really hammered that and spent a lot of time doing extras, which is good and one of the reasons why he has earned the opportunity.
“I was at the game on Saturday and it’s nice to see him warming up, he looks comfortable – which is good. That’s why we want to do it because ideally, you want to have Under 18s who are used to that environment. We want them to be comfortable in that environment, ready to work hard and thrive rather than maybe shy away or be scared of it so it’s good.”
The Under 18s were in action last weekend but fell to a 4-1 defeat away at Salford City.
A number of Under 16s have been involved and while the defeat was disappointing, King is more concerned about performances.
“It’s easy to look at results but what’s nice is you’ve got Ronan Maher in the first team, you’ve got these three players out on loan and we’ve been playing with a lot of Under 16s week in, week out,” King explained.
“Take last Saturday’s game, we had a five Under 16s on the pitch at one point which is fantastic because that’s what you want.
“It’s not about the result, it’s more about the performance and how they’re getting on, giving those experiences and getting Under 16s and first years who can compete when they get to Under 18s or Under 18s trying to get to the first team.
“They’ve got to be able to handle being in a slightly different environment and playing against players who are a bit older than them.”