This boy George is a cultured club star

GARY JOHNSON praised teenager George Lloyd after he helped Cheltenham defeat Morecambe on his first EFL start.

Playing on the wing, League Two Apprentice of the Year nominee Lloyd set up the final goal for Harry Pell with a fine cross from the right after goals from Jerell Sellars and Will Boyle.

“I was very pleased with George and I said to him at the end, when you have your league debut it has to be memorable for the right reasons,” Johnson said.

“He played his part. He did have a couple of mis-controls, which is what happens when young lads play, but he made a fantastic cross for Pelly’s goal and he was a constant threat to his left-back.

“He makes block tackles and he’s very brave like that.

“Now he has his league debut and 90 minutes under his belt, he can kick on again.

“I was very pleased for him because you never get a second chance to create a first impression and that’s why you have to make sure it’s the right time to bring these lads through.”

But Jim Bentley felt his side were unlucky to concede for the first time in the 58th minute when Sellars’ shot took a heavy deflection on its way past Danijel Nizic.

“When the lad’s shooting on the edge of the box you are thinking, ‘OK, it’s going to be a routine shot’,” the Shrimps boss said.

“But it takes a deflection and it loops up. It could have been anywhere else on the pitch, but instead it goes over the keeper and we’re 1-0 down. When’s that going to happen for us?

“It proper burns my head in. The first goal is critical. Goals change games. It gives them the momentum and gets the crowd up.

“It gives them a shot in the arm and then the other two goals were errors.”

Cheltenham’s Scott Flinders denied Kevin Ellison in the third minute and Ellison then crashed a shot against the post two minutes later.

After a slow start Cheltenham improved and Pell forced Nizic into a save with a header from Joe Morrell’s free-kick in the 21st minute, before denying Boyle after half an hour following another Morrell cross.

The breakthrough came when Sellars skipped around two defenders and unleashed a shot which looped in to give the former Aston Villa youngster his first Whaddon Road goal.

Boyle headed in the second in the 65th minute after a Pell knock down and Pell headed in Lloyd’s cross to round off the scoring.