Boss Steven Schumacher was happy with another productive night’s work as in-form Wanderers put themselves on the brink of the knock-out stages of the Vertu Trophy.
The Whites are unbeaten in eight League One games and stayed on a roll with a 3-0 win over Manchester City’s Under-21s to go top of northern Group E.
Sam Dalby – with his first for the club – John McAtee and Aaron Morley got the goals inside the opening 23 minutes which means a point in their final group game at Oldham Athletic will guarantee a place in the last-32 of the competition Wanderers won in 2023.
“We said to the lads just to be professional and make sure that we do everything properly and I thought we did,” said Schumacher. “The first half we were really good, nice and aggressive, won the ball back off City loads of times and were clinical with our chances.
“We got some good runs in behind, some nice slide passes got us in on goal, and the game was over by half-time, which was great. The second half was a little bit more open. City had a few big chances to be fair to them because they've got good players and we've had to work hard to keep a clean sheet, but glad that we did.
“That’s we wanted, to keep the momentum going. It’s another game unbeaten here, another game where we've got a clean sheet, we've scored some goals and six points pretty much gets you through in this competition.
“That’s what we want and we look forward to the next game in this competition but, more importantly, we look forward to Saturday in Northampton now.”
Schumacher made 10 changes to his starting line-up and as well as seeing his side make it back-to-back Trophy wins also welcomed the opportunity to give game time to a number of players who haven’t featured regularly in recent weeks.
And as well as starts for the likes of Dalby, Cyrus Christie and Richard Taylor there was also the welcome sight of a return for Kyle Dempsey, who played his first football since April with an impressive 45-minute cameo following knee surgery.
“He has to work really hard, it's been a frustrating time for him,” Schumacher added. “When I came to the club he was just coming back from injury, got back in towards the end of the season and then had a reoccurrence which he felt he needed an operation on.
“That can be frustrating as a player when it's stop start but there are a lot of people who know Demps better than me around here and know he does everything properly. He's a real good, popular member of the squad and I'm pleased that he's got himself back onto the pitch tonight.
“He's got a long way to go to get up to full speed and we just won't rush with him. We just take our time but I'm glad that he's back out there, played well and could possibly have had a couple of goals, so that's pleasing.”
Watch the head coach's full post-match interview on Wanderers TV