Paul Bodin was full of praise for his defeated youngsters after they were eliminated from the FA Youth Cup last night.
The Swindon youth supremo watched his young charges fall to a 1-2 home reverse at the hands of Leyton Orient after extra time.
Far from being unhappy Bodin was pleased with his youngsters who had finished the stronger in normal time.
Seb Broomfield’s opener was immediately cancelled out by an excellent free kick from Orient captain Harry Beautyman, and the visitors went on to snatch the win in the first half of extra time to break Town hearts.
Speaking after the match, a disappointed Bodin said:
“I really feel for the players, they’ve given 100% to a man and I can’t fault their effort,”
“The free-kick they scored from was a little bit harsh, but to be fair he’s delivered it brilliantly to equalise.”
“I think we did enough to win the game, and in terms of final third action we certainly had a lot more than they did, but at the end of the day the game’s about putting the ball in the back of the net.”
“Everyone of our players can take credit from the game and can be proud of their efforts, but it just wasn’t to be.”
Rather than lamenting last night’s defeat Bodin was also quick to stress that his players can put this setback behind them and use it as a springboard for the rest of their campaign.
He added:
“Will Evans (Town centre-half) is beating himself up a bit about the goal, but he’s had a tremendous game.”
“It’s dangerous to let the ball run across you in the box, but as long as he learns from it then not too much harm has been done.”
“We’ve told them that it’s all part of a learning curve, and football is a harsh world sometimes-you make one mistake and get punished for it, and unfortunately that’s what has happened tonight.”
“We don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket and treat the FA Youth Cup as the most important thing because it’s not.”
“The day in, day out training and the games on the Saturday are just as important, if not more.”
“It’s home against Bournemouth on Saturday morning, and let’s hope we can get back to winning ways as quickly as possible.”
“They’re right behind us on the same points so it’s second against third, and with (league leaders) Bristol Rovers not playing we can close the gap at the top should we win.”
