youth cup

[bigroof]

In case anyone's interested: right now on ITV4 they're showing the second leg of the FA Youth Cup semi-final.
Reading are playing Fulham, Reading being the team who only beat Crewe on penalties in the last 32. A good yardstick perhaps for the abilities of our boys this year?
Reading benefitted from having a home game with Accrington in the next round - they won 3-0, and I'm pretty sure Crewe would've had a good chance themselves of winning through to the quarter finals. They then had another penalties win after a 4-4 draw with Liverpool. A case of 'if only' I suppose for our under 18s.

[DGFG]

6 of our second year scholars have been offered pro contracts (compared with only 2 last year).

Murdoch, Saunders,Ng,Jones, Baillie and Callum Pritchard-Ellis.

Not familiar with Pritchard-Ellis, assume he's been injured?

George Cooper, who is still a first year scholar, also signed a three year pro contract recently.

Think I'm right in saying that only Baillie is a defender though those who have seen these lads play more often than me might be able to clarify.

[AlexLeicester]

Very pleased for all six. Testament to the work that's being done at the Academy, and SD's belief in the future.

I think you are right: Murdoch, Saunders and Cooper, up front; Jones very slightly behind feeding them; Perry Ng in midfield; and Baillie in defence (but I'm not a 100 percent about that).

Pritchard-Ellis is also a striker (so says the OS), but I don't remember seeing him. I have only been to 3 U21s - Leicester, Derby and Nottingham.

[ShropshireAlex]

I thought Perry Ng was centre back and James Baillie full back? O/S certainly seems to think so, and wasn't Ng playing CB alongside George ray when they were sent off in that U-21 game?

[somersetcrewe]

Ng definitely centre back v Reading.
Baillie a very impressive left back in that same game!

[AlexLeicester]

Memory fades with time, so not sure about Derby v., but at Nottingham, Perry Ng seemed to be much further forward than a conventional CB.
Then again, winning 4-0 showed how good Forest were as much as how good we were. I think I remember that we kept our shape well, if fluidly, except for James Jones who seemed to have great swathes of green to roam in behind the front two.