Oundle Diamond #2 wrote:I see Jerry Nash played, is he the youngest ever player for Rushden? (I'm sure our resident Statto will know)
He only turned 16 about a week ago!
Friendly games don't actually count, and besides, Aynsley McDonald was 4 days short of his 16th birthday when he made his debut in the Hillier Cup against Northampton Spencer.
It was a good performance by the youngsters today, and although we controlled possession better in the first half, with Max Porter running the show, we probably looked more threatening in front of goal in the second half when the first team players had gone off.
George Artemi and Morgan Phillips looked very assured at the back, and when Newmarket did manage to get past them, Joe Day was solid (with the exception of one dodgy punch and a couple of suspect kicks, although the pitch certainly didn't help). Elliot Dent was superb when he came on at half time, and Nash once again impressed for a midget (he makes Mark Byrne look like a giant)! Shariff struggled to get into the game early on, and when he did get on the ball he tried to do too much, but he did really well to set up Day for the opening goal, and scored a good third goal, shrugging off a defender to slot home following a great run and 1-2 with Liam Read.
If there were any disappointments from the game then they were the performances of Keehan and York, both of whom I was expecting a bit more from. Keehan looked very slow and sluggish, and while York started brightly he soon faded and looked very average against weaker opposition.
Oh, and a special mention must go to the officials who, despite the fact it was a friendly game played at a slightly slower pace than usual, still managed to f**k up the simplest of decisions including a clear penalty to us which for some bizarre reason ended up as a free kick to Newmarket! :lol: I can laugh about it because it were a friendly, but had that been a 'proper' game....... :evil: :evil: :evil: