After today’s 3-2 victory for the Development Squad in West Yorkshire, Paul Sheerin gave us this reaction:

“I said to them at half time that the first half hour wasn’t good enough, whether it’s our shape or whatever, you still need the application. And I felt they were off it a wee bit in terms of their work ethic and intensity to get the ball back which is a slight on them really. They took that on board at half time and we were far better. In fairness when we changed the shape we got better in the last ten minutes of the first half, got Ethan Ross on the ball a bit more in better areas of the pitch and in the second half we were more of what we should be and what we have been in certain games this season. So, really pleased with our second half performance.

“The goals we can look at and dissect obviously but even at 2-2 when they changed their shape they gave us a few wee problems but we managed to get the winner and after that we just shut up shop a bit and saw the game out, which I thought we did relatively well in the last 5-10 minutes.

“There’s a lot of guesswork! James Mitchell [Performance Analyst] tries to do his bit and get us headshots and a rough idea of the players and then when the team comes in it’s all change and you can’t even find those players! So it shows the amount of players that they do have in their academy that they can have the luxury to field a team which is almost totally different to the one that played up at Brechin.

“It’s all the more important that you apply yourself properly and give yourself every opportunity and I felt for the first half an hour we didn’t do that well enough. Beyond that I thought we were excellent, we got into good areas of the pitch. I thought Ethan Ross lit up the whole second half. Bruce Anderson and Michael Ruth got in areas where they can score goals and do what they do best. So really pleased with the second half and their appetite for the game and looking after each other in a really competitive match.

“He’s clever [Bruce Anderson at the third goal]. He uses his body enough just to steer the advantage his way in terms of giving the defender a wee nudge and he gets the benefit of the doubt from the referee. After that it’s either a penalty or a goal, it was pretty inevitable. The biggest surprise was that he misses the one in the first half- albeit it’s a good block.

“Pleased that he gets his goals, Michael Ruth as well. I thought the shape probably doesn’t suit Michael when we changed to have him in a wide area but the shift he puts in for the team is brilliant it really is. He works his tail off constantly and is still a threat from that position which is pleasing.

“It was competitive, there was contact made throughout the game without anything too serious. And the boy [Akinola] has probably just got caught up in the frustrations of the game and their desire to win the game. He’ll learn from it no doubt and like you say, touch wood, Luke’s injury settles down and it’s nothing too serious. These things happen in the game and if the boy learns from it then that’s the main thing.

“It’s a different environment. We are seeing their habitat, what they have as a club and we are getting closer to that with Cormack Park so it’s good to see the comparisons with that. From a coaches point of view it’s good to see teams playing a different way and test you in terms of their change of shape towards the end of the game- I was trying to get to grips with that. So even from my point of view it’s good. From the players’ point of view it’s a freshness and it’s a wee feather in the cap to say that we can go and beat these academy teams who, with the greatest of respect, probably look at being a lot bigger than what we are in Scotland. So for us to come down here and get the win is really pleasing.”