Preston North End scholar Leon Creech has said that the U18s could have been involved in a totally different game if they had taken their chances against Hartlepool United on Saturday.
Creech played well at right-back during the Youth Alliance Cup group game, but he couldn’t prevent his side from falling to a 3-0 defeat in the North East.
The Lilywhites created plenty of opportunities to score in the game but Creech said bad luck wasn’t the reason for the loss: “I think we should have taken our chances really, because if we had done that it would have been a different game.
“We started too poorly so I don’t think we could say we were unlucky, either. I think there were just a couple of sloppy individual mistakes, such as letting men run off us and not getting tight enough to the attackers.”
Creech almost caught the Hartlepool ‘keeper out with an effort from the halfway line as well, but as was the case on the day for PNE, that effort narrowly missed. Creech said of that moment: “Yes, it was quite audacious to shoot, but I noticed that the ‘keeper was off his line and I thought it was the right decision to shoot. Unfortunately, it didn’t come off and it hit the side-netting.”
Creech has now played at right-back, right-wing and central midfield this season alone, and he is happy to be considered versatile as he spoke of his individual display: “I think it helps to be versatile when I’m playing. I just try to do my best to do any job the manager gives me.
“I thought I did quite well in the first half, I won my second balls, but it’s not about me – it’s about the team and we needed to come together more today.”