BURTON Albion Professional Development Phase lead coach Keith Gilroy is very pleased with seeing several Academy scholars being involved within the first team set up over the past couple of months.
The Young Brewers most recently overcame Scunthorpe United in a hard-fought 2-0 win thanks to goals from Ronny Wakelin and Toby Oakes.
Despite the deceivingly-flattering scoreline the Brewers struggled to break down a stubborn Scunthorpe defence for the majority of the match.
Speaking after the fixtures against the Irons, Gilroy argued Albion could’ve been more efficient in possession to pile more pressure onto the hosts.
He said: “I thought we had a bit more energy about us in the first half and we could have been a few goals up.
“We know the lads are good in possession when we’re on it and it wasn’t a lack of bravery, I just thought when we beat the press, we just made the wrong decisions at times.
“We just felt with a little more technique and aggression we could have broke the lines a little bit more.”
Both players who bagged the Brewers’ goals against the Irons were involved in the first team’s trip away to Port Vale last weekend. This made Oakes the fifth academy scholar to be called up to one of at least one of Dino Maamria’s League One matchday squads this season following in the footsteps: Finn Delap, Dylan Scott, Will Tamen and Wakelin.
Gilroy said the experiences the likes Wakelin and Oakes have encountered in recent weeks can help motivate the rest of the squad to push themselves even harder and achieve big things within their own careers.
Gilroy added: “The great thing about this club is that there’s opportunity for the young lads to come down to train and impress. We had Ronnie (Wakelin) and Toby (Oakes) involved again the other day against Port Vale.
“Those experiences are what their aiming for as a full-time career so getting a little taste of it right now should spur on not just us as staff.
"But equally the other players in the groups as they know if they’re performing well and playing well then they will get opportunities to go and train with the first team.”