3/1 To Win
Rory Delap believes that the determination shown by his Under-18s side during their 1-0 defeat against Manchester City was faultless.
Despite dominating the second half, Delap and Justin Walker’s side were unable to depart the City Football Academy with any points in their final league match of the season.
Henri Ogunby’s strike just before the interval supplied the only goal of the game to secure the win for the hosts.
Jayden Mitchell-Lawson and Connor Dixon had Derby’s best efforts of the match, with the duo both hitting the post either side of half time.
Delap felt that his side were unlucky not to return to Pride Park without scoring at least once.
He told dcfc.co.uk: “You can’t fault the lads in work-rate and application which is something we say is a bare minimum.
“It’s sometimes not where it should be, but we can’t fault them for that.
“We played some good stuff at times, we were unfortunate not to create more and it’s been similar all season really where we haven’t quite made the most of possession in the areas where we have had good possession.
"It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t nick one or two.”
Having scored eight goals across their two matches prior to their trip to Manchester, the Rams were unable to continue their recent free-scoring form.
Joint Under-18s manager Delap was disappointed that his side were not any able to create more goal-scoring opportunities, despite having a lot of the ball in attacking areas.
Delap said: “I wouldn’t say we created a lot of chances, but we were in areas where we should be creating.
“That’s where people pay a lot of money for those players that can do it in the final third and create chances and score goals.
“I’m not saying it’s easy by any means but that’s where they’ve got to improve. They are trying and working hard day in, day out, in training and the games, but we need to see more quality in those areas.”
The result for the Rams means that they have ended their 2017/18 Premier League – North season in sixth position.
The Under-18s coach admitted that they do not set position-based targets, but he is content with their mid-table finish and is targeting to see more of his players playing for the Under-23s and the first team in the future.
“We don’t target positionally, we look at trying to push players through the Under-23s and the first-team, which has happened on a couple of occasions this season with the Under-18s squad this year” said Delap.
“We are reasonably pleased with what we have done in terms of that, but we are always wanting to improve as a coach and on the playing side, so it’s something to aim for next season.
“We’ve got a good group of lads, we knew that at the start of the season. We’ve got to be pleased with the season we’ve had in terms of performances and results, but that will always bring success with them pushing onto the Under-23s and the first-team more regularly.”
Words: Jonty Colman
