Youth team forward Joe Rodwell-Grant praised the collective performance of the squad and was pleased with the positive part he is playing in the team’s success.
North End put on a fantastic display against Port Vale, beating the Valiants 9-1 in a game that saw six different goalscorers for the home side.
It was an impressive performance for forward Rodwell-Grant with his intelligent attacking play being involved in three of the five first half goals.
“It was good getting on the ball and getting at the left-back”, said the first-year scholar. “I enjoyed it, staying out wide and cutting inside sometimes, creating chances”.
“My confidence is up there now and I’m even more motivated than what I was at the start of the season to just keep in the team and keep producing when the manager puts his faith in me to do so."
North End’s high intensity and constant pressure throughout the game made them see it out comfortably, and the quality of the attacking play meant the Lilywhites were unfortunate not to score more, something Rodwell-Grant was pleased to see.
“The intensity was really high, we look at winning the ball back in higher areas of the pitch and that’s what we did today, that’s why we did really well. We did well to do what we did and just went on and scored."
“We work on being relentless and not just sitting off when we're two or three goals up, we keep on going and the boys were relentless today”.
The next game for Nick Harrison and the U18s is the FA Youth Cup clash with Bristol City at Deepdale on Monday 16th December, the squad will be going into that game full of confidence after the performance against Port Vale, and Rodwell-Grant knows that his side will make tough opposition for the Robins.
“It just shows for Bristol city that it’s not going to be an easy game for them, it’s going to be a tough game, with us really good attacking and in defence as well, it’s just a statement to Bristol City that we are a really good team and we are dangerous on the attack."