Coach happy as Southern Utd Youth achieves first win

THE first three weeks have proven a good learning curve for the Southern United Youth side.

It claimed its first points of the national youth league season on Saturday, a 31 win over the Hamilton Wanderers on the road.

That came on the back of two tough losses against what look to be the league’s top teams.

Eastern Suburbs beat the southern side 41, while Auckland City managed a 20 win at Forrester Park.

It does not get any easier this weekend — the team hosts thirdplaced Team Wellington — but coach Terry Boylan is happy with how things are tracking.

The players had learnt a lot from the losses and had made great progress towards the goal of developing their games for the senior side.

However, the win had also been significant for the players, particularly from a confidence perspective.

‘‘We’re here to get the next tier of players coming through for the men’s team, that’s what our focus is on,’’ Boylan said.

‘‘But there is also a competition up for grabs, and the players aren’t just here to get into the next tier — they want to win here as well.

‘‘It’s finding that right balance of guiding, coaching and learnings, as opposed to ‘it’s all about the three points’. . . it’s also learning how to win properly and being smart on their football intelligence and management during the game.’’

He felt the team had deserved its win against Hamilton, and was pleased with how it coped with the entire experience, which included the travel.

The entire squad had impressed in their attitudes and progress, several already getting higher opportunities.

Rory Findlay made his debut in the senior team’s win on Saturday, while Adam Hewson had played in the premiership opener against Canterbury United.

Goal keeper Stewart Catto had also been in the men’s squad, although was yet to play.

A difference Boylan had noticed in the first two games was the level of training the two Auckland sides did.

The players in the Eastern Suburbs team were training 12 times a week, while Auckland

City’s players were training six to eight times a week.

While it was an approach which was clearly winning games right now, Boylan said there were factors outside of football to consider.

‘‘The welfare of the players, especially because we’ve got growing lads and we’ve got a variance of ages, is quite massive as well.

‘‘We don’t want to overuse them, but we don’t want to underuse as well.

‘‘So we’re trying to manage our time better with them when we do have them, trying to put on high intensity sessions and having recovery and the other bits and pieces.

‘‘There is a mix, we could probably go another night, but it’s also . . . realising they’ve got lives outside of football.

‘‘It’s not a professional game here, but we’re trying to give them a professional mindset.’’

❛ . . . there is also a competition up for grabs and the players aren’t just here to get into the next tier, they want to win here as well