Julian Darby praised his side’s derby grit and insists it will take a united effort to keep the U21s top of the table, writes Pete Oliver.
A 3-1 success at Wigan Athletic extended the Whites’ advantage at the top of the Professional Development League to five points thanks to a seventh win in eight league games.
First-team men John McAtee, Ryan Hardie and David Watson weighed in with the goals at the Brick Community Stadium.
But with goalkeeper David Harrington getting sent off after an hour, a tidy young Latics’ side made Wanderers fight for the derby honours and another three points.
“I said to the lads, ‘listen, we'll play better than that and get beat. We weren't fantastic today, but what they showed was that determination, that endeavour to win the game and win a local derby,” said Darby.
“I'd say derbies are sometimes not the prettiest games in the world and they can be a bit scrappy, but the lads, especially when we went down to 10 men, all dug in there and all did their little bit. It's another part of the learning curve.”
Darby was disappointed to see his side concede just before the break and only minutes after Watson had scored Wanderers’ third with the goal of the game, tucking away a pull-back from Max Lott after the winger had been released by McAtee’s perfect pass.
But the U21s’ head coach was pleased with the spirit shown on and off the pitch to maintain the winning habit in a sign of what will be needed for the remainder of a likely title challenge.
“It's great that we had the first-team boys out again and each of them scored as well, which was nice to see. But even the lads that weren't involved today, with us having the first-team boys in, they're all a part of it,” Darby added.
“We had to leave two or three back at the training ground doing a spot of training with the under-18s and then they came and watched. I want everyone to be a part of it because it's important.
“At some stage in the near future they'll be needed and they need to know what the rest of the team is doing, what we're expecting them to do and what it takes to try and win a game. We’re into the 20s now for points, which is nice, and we’ll try and keep going.”
The U21s are next in action at home to Huddersfield Town next Tuesday, while another good day for the academy was capped by an 8-1 win over Rochdale for a younger youth team in the U17 Professional Development League Cup as they made it three wins out of three en route to the knock-out phase.