"Take that confidence and free flowing football that we played into the next game and the rest of the season" - academy manager Curtis Burrows challenges the U21s to bounce back with a win in the Worksop Van Hire Development League on Thursday.
The brand-new Long Eaton United U21s side began life in the WVH North Midlands Development League with a defeat away to an experienced Sherwood Colliery U21's side several weeks ago.
Burrows' Blues continue their campaign in the U21s League on Thursday with a trip to Dronfield Town. Preparing for the match, Burrows said: “We go into Thursday night looking to bounce back from a 3-0 defeat against Sherwood on the opening day.
"There will be a lot of the same faces in the U21 team that were involved in the FA Youth Cup and the U19 National League.
“It is about the players trying to stake a claim and push on to that next level. The academy staff are always speaking to Ian Deakin and the first-team staff about players who are looking good and progressing well and players who we think might eventually be involved in the first-team setup.
“We keep saying to the lads that it is about helping them in that transition to the first team or playing football in a non-league setting.”
Elsewhere within Long Eaton United Community FC Academy, the U19s got off to a flying start last Wednesday with a 10-1 win against Buxton in the National League Alliance. Reflecting on the win, Burrows commented: “It was a great way to open the National League campaign. Everyone was looking forward to it and it was nice to go and get a convincing victory."
“[Buxton] were going through a bit of a transitional period with a new manager but we still had to go there and it is never easy away from home."
The U19s were 3-0 up against Buxton at half time and put the game well beyond doubt with an impressive seven goals in the second half. "Sometimes when you go four or five-nil up you do things that you would not usually do," Burrows added: "You can get a little bit complacent but the lads didn't do that to be fair to them, we kept our foot on the gas pedal and got the win that we deserved.
“I said to the lads [after the win against Buxton] that we have to take that confidence and free flowing football that we played into the next game and the rest of the season."
This article originally appeared in Long Eaton United's matchday programme issue #08 on Tuesday 27th September.