RESERVES

[Guest Wildman1867]

Anybody know if the reserve match at Burton Albion is on tonight - can't find anything on official website or on Burton's website - Anyone going if it's on

[Guest burton on trent owl]

as far as i know its on mate. me and a few others going 7pm kick off

[malek]

It is definitely on

Burton OS

[malek]

We lost 2:1

Burton OS

Burton Albion reserves 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday reserves

Goals from Keith Gilroy and triallist Greg Mills proved enough to beat Sheffield Wednesday reserves in this evening's Totesport.com League match at the Pirelli Stadium.

Albion fielded a relatively youthful line-up in front of goalkeeper Kevin Poole and had to deal with some good play from the visitors before taking the lead and making sure of three points in the second half.

Southend United's under 18 defender Callum Whittaker was kept busy at the back alongside regular youth team/reserve defender Ben Turner whilst Jacques Maghoma completed ninety minutes as he comes back from injury.

After a tentative opening Maghoma strode forward in the 13th minute before a disappointing shot failed to trouble Richard O'Donnell in the Owls goal. Midfielder Josh Thomas also tried his luck without seriously testing the keeper.

The Owls hit Albion's crossbar shortly after through Callum Harrison as the sides traded scoring opportunities with Greg Mills looking lively up front for Albion. Harrison was denied by a smart save from Poole and at the other end triallist Tom Amos saw an angled effort cleared off the line.

Wednesday really should have taken the lead in the 27th minute through Charlie Tunnard but in acres of space inside the box he tried to chip Poole who stretched to get a hand on the ball and avert the danger.

It proved a costly miss. Mills forced a good save from O'Donnell in the 35th minute and from the resulting corner the Owls failed to clear and the ball fell nicely for Keith Gilroy to stroke the ball home from close range.

Early in the second half Poole made another good save, this time from Liam Palmer before Albion doubled their advantage on 53 minutes. An excellent ball forward from Maghoma drew O'Donnell out of his goal and the dangerous looking Mills was able to nick the ball round the keeper before confidently rolling the ball into the net.

Wednesday were back in it within two minutes when Luke Boden curled home a free kick from 25 yards and could have been level in the 73rd minute but for Poole tipping over a point blank header.

Maghoma curled a precise effort against the crossbar and Jimmy Phillips was denied by the outstretched leg of a defender but the miss did not prove costly as Albion held on for the win.

ALBION: Poole, Knowles, Turner (Blake, 46), Whittaker, Grocott; Gilroy, Maghoma, Thomas (Johnson, 46) , Phillips; Amos (Spargo, 75), Mills. Substitutes: Marsh, Minshull.

OWLS: O'Donnell, Wragg, Wilde (Haywood, 61) , Harrison, Wood, Barnett, Palmer, Boden, Tunnard, Modest, Kirkland. Substitutes: Jameson, Poulton, Cottingham, Lacey.

GOALS: ALBION - Gilroy (36), Mills (53); OWLS: Boden (55)

Referee: R.J.Madley (W.Yorkshire)

[scram]

Pity our site can't take our reserves and academy a bit more seriously

Or maybe they don't wanna broadcast about them too much

Silence is golden....

[gurujuan]

It is a pity Scram as a lot of us take an interest in which younger players might be coming through. Most sites offer in depth reports on reserve and youth team matches yet Wednesday barely upgrade theirs.

[Arthur Bach]

Just dismantle them and have done with it.

[Chris_B_SWFC]

It is a pity Scram as a lot of us take an interest in which younger players might be coming through. Most sites offer in depth reports on reserve and youth team matches yet Wednesday barely upgrade theirs.

Is this a job for DeeJayOne?

[DJMortimer]

So Macclesfield and Burton have done the double over our reserves?

Gulp.

[KivoOwl]

Pity our site can't take our reserves and academy a bit more seriously

Or maybe they don't wanna broadcast about them too much

Silence is golden....

Been saying the same for years. I've offered to maintain the reserve and academy sections of the OS for free. Other club sites have updated results with links to match reports, stats, player profiles etc... Ours has none of that whatsoever. Amateurish

[Arthur Bach]

Been saying the same for years. I've offered to maintain the reserve and academy sections of the OS for free. Other club sites have updated results with links to match reports, stats, player profiles etc... Ours has none of that whatsoever. Amateurish

Considering your downbeat and melancholic mood I dread to think what you would have written for tonights report.

"They just came at us...coming, coming, coming. And then there was darkness - and the widows of lost men counted the dead as the crow sang his mournful tune"

[owl-zat]

I note from the line-up Irvine has not risked any of the first team fringe players i.e Jeffers and Esajas

[sjtheowl]

I went tonight. Not a great game, but Burton deserved the points. We were poor again just like last week against Macclesfield and if it wasn't for a great Boden free-kick we wouldnt have even scored.

My ratings:

O' Donnell: Not his best game tonight. At fault for the second goal, came running out of his box, didnt get there and the Burton player simply took it round him and slotted in. Good kicking, but McAuley didn't seem too happy with the time he was taking over his goalkicks when 1-0 and 2-0 down.

Wragg: Solid. Got beaten a couple of times, but seemed comfortable on the ball and looked to get forward. Needs to improve his final ball.

Wilde: Went off with what looked like a hamstring injury. Good first touch, but often misplaced passes.

Harrison: Before the game I had always thought of Callum as one of our brighter prospects, but not as much so now. Got eased off the ball far too easily many times, seemed to work hard in his midfield role, but with very little success.

Wood: Looked to be at fault for the first goal, but was hard to see the full extent from where I was. Otherwise solid enough, seems to have a good turn of pace and marshalled Barnett through the game well.

Barnett: Played at the back tonight, not his usual position from when I've seen him. Struggled to cope with the bulk of the Burton forward, but seemed comfortable on the ball and very good positional awareness to say CB wasn't his usual position

Palmer: Expected a lot from him having seen him on the first team bench a couple of times this season, but nothing stood out for me. A couple of half decent touches and runs forward, but never really put in a string of decent crosses and his corners didnt seem to work at all during the game. Missed a good chance at 2-1, shooting straight at the GK when well placed.

Boden: My MOM. Ran our show in midfield, always available to recieve the ball and didnt lose possession often. Worked well with Modest. Performance topped off by a terrific free kick which curled into the bottom right hand corner as I looked.

Tunnard: Not impressed. Constantly bad first touch, struggled to find a pass all night, was by far the weaker of the two forwards. Missed a great chance at 1-0 when set up by Modest and should have done better with a more difficult chance late on.

Modest: Liked what I saw tonight, seems to have beefed up abit since his couple of first team appearances and produced a couple of piercing runs and was a hassle all night. Won the free kick to tee up Boden's goal when out-numbered by 3 to 1.

Kirkland: Showed a few glimpses, but was almost anonymous in the game. Missed a good chance early on that Poole tipped onto the bar from 8 yards.

Haywood: Solid without being amazing. Didn't push forward as much as he possible could have with us pushing for an equaliser.

[gurujuan]

Nice one. Do you think Boden is ready to take Potters place? Obviously not now at this vital stage but if we were relegated could he do a job?

[KivoOwl]

Cheers for the assessment. My own thoughts in general - O'Donnell needs first team games somewhere but we need him as back up. Wragg, Wood, Harrison, Tunnard aren't good enough and will probably be released in the summer. Playing Barnett in defence for the last six months is crazy. I just cannot believe his career is being ruined in such a way. What a prospect being wasted. Modest has improved no end this year and should be in the first team squad with his pace, god knows that's what we're missing

[Mr Farrell]

If that's our reserve squad, is it any wonder we are in the poo poo ?

What's the point in having one, unless it is going to put pressure on the first team squad ?

[sjtheowl]

Nice one. Do you think Boden is ready to take Potters place? Obviously not now at this vital stage but if we were relegated could he do a job?

Hard one to call. Tonight he ran the show from midfield, looked comfortable on the ball and very good techinally. But we've got to remember he was playing in a low-tempo game against a bunch of kids from Burton. He would certainly be a player I would like in our League One squad, especially with the versality meaning he can play wide or up front if needed. Compared with Potter he looks stronger in the tackle I will say and I think he deserves a chance.

Cheers for the assessment. My own thoughts in general - O'Donnell needs first team games somewhere but we need him as back up. Wragg, Wood, Harrison, Tunnard aren't good enough and will probably be released in the summer. Playing Barnett in defence for the last six months is crazy. I just cannot believe his career is being ruined in such a way. What a prospect being wasted. Modest has improved no end this year and should be in the first team squad with his pace, god knows that's what we're missing

I agree with alot you've said Kivo. On his performance tonight I certainly wouldn't be comfortable with ROD if Grant got injured during the run-in. Harrison and Tunnard are simply not strong enough and not good enough with the ball at their feet. Wragg could be a decent back-up, but a League One back-up. The Barnett thing has angered me too. I've been to all but 3 reserve games this season, and Barnett had played in a defensive role in all but one of the games I've seen and in that one game, a 0-0 draw with Derby in about November, he looked a different player. He really is turning into a solid enough CB though. Modest should be in the first team set up. Especially with the curent shower of poo our forwards are producing.

[malek]

Pity our site can't take our reserves and academy a bit more seriously

Or maybe they don't wanna broadcast about them too much

Silence is golden....

Either they don't want to broadcast how bad we are doing, or they don't care at all. I believe that OS with their approach simply mirror how much our club care about academy and reserve football

On the other note - what are you expecting from this side ? It is mostly our academy that is bottom of their league + O'Donnell and Boden. Burton had some first team players there, and those certainly made more first team appearances this season than all 15 of our players who all together don't have single minute of first team football in 09/10.

On Barnett: I took a chance and asked couple of coaches andex-players does it make any sense to play your promising playmaker as central defender for a year to toughen him up, and what other benefits it could bring. They seemed generally shocked, and said that playing such player in a full-back position to improve his positional sense, get him used to players running at him, tackling and moving up and down the field makes sense, and it was done quite often. But to play such a player at CB for a season will teach him absolutely nothing or very little, and would certainly present a season lost for the said player. They questioned expertise of coach who went for such a measures...

[Rogers]

Pity our site can't take our reserves and academy a bit more seriously

Or maybe they don't wanna broadcast about them too much

Silence is golden....

Are any of those players ready or good enough for the first team?

[scram]

Either they don't want to broadcast how bad we are doing, or they don't care at all. I believe that OS with their approach simply mirror how much our club care about academy and reserve football

On the other note - what are you expecting from this side ? It is mostly our academy that is bottom of their league + O'Donnell and Boden. Burton had some first team players there, and those certainly made more first team appearances this season than all 15 of our players who all together don't have single minute of first team football in 09/10.

On Barnett: I took a chance and asked couple of coaches andex-players does it make any sense to play your promising playmaker as central defender for a year to toughen him up, and what other benefits it could bring. They seemed generally shocked, and said that playing such player in a full-back position to improve his positional sense, get him used to players running at him, tackling and moving up and down the field makes sense, and it was done quite often. But to play such a player at CB for a season will teach him absolutely nothing or very little, and would certainly present a season lost for the said player. They questioned expertise of coach who went for such a measures...

TBH i can't judge because i haven't see the team or players - but i can look at any evidence

the evidence available is that the academy team is a poor one among its peers - and the academy league group we are in is not regarded as one of the strongest either - the reserves are poor in their opeer group - and we aren't getting decent players through to the 1st team

So that is overtly the picture - however within that it must be said that a couple of individuals can really be shining lights - but they would (hopefully) be in the 1st team picture - or out on loan to a decent club - ie not the Sheffield and District league whatever....

As for rotating players - well that's what it usually is - player rotation to give players not only a feel of different positions - b ut some insight into how to cope with opposition who play those positions - it was a policy of one of the finest youth development coach's ever - Co Adriaanse when he was in charge of player development at Ajax

However that is a bit different to constantly playing a player in another position and leaving him there - but a couple of thinsg might have happened here - 1, the coach likes the way the player is developing in that position and thinks it is working for him - 2, He is thinking of shifting him to that position permanently - 3, he isn't reckoned to be good enough for his olriginal position so he's being tried elsewhere to try to salvage a pro career for him

Now the above is only idle speculation - not my guess as to what is happening.

The player development department is one that definitely needs some major surgery - the cost difference between a really productive youth academy and a poo poo one is probably the cost of an average squad filler for a season

Edited April 7, 2010 by scram