Caithness United U16s ‘need to work even harder on their individual development’
Caithness United under-16s are being urged to “start putting in 90-minute performances” after making a slow start against their St Duthus counterparts at Grant Park in Tain.
United eventually ran out 6-0 winners but coach Alan Kennedy wasn’t entirely satisfied. “It was clear that we have a bit of work yet to do on player patience, decision-making and execution of passes,” he said.
St Duthus carved out the best chances in the opening 25 minutes, albeit from range and not troubling Kyle Bain too much in the Caithness goal.
It was against the run of play that United took the lead from their first real moment of quality. John Mullally won the ball and shifted it out to the left wing where Max Ross beat the full-back and fired it into the near-post area for Cory Miller to execute a neat first-time finish.
A second followed 10 minutes later when Ryan More’s pass brought a scrambled finish from Matthew Cook.
The second half began as the first finished, with Caithness creating the better opportunities.
Their third came when a well-worked move released Joe Critchley on the right. His pass found Mullally free on the edge of the box and he took a touch before sending a shot past the diving St Duthus keeper.
The last three goals all came from Max Ross’s left-foot deliveries into the box. Cook and Miller capitalised again and a St Duthus defender turned the ball into his own net from close range.
Kennedy said: “It may sound strange going by the result, but I thought it was clear from our overall performance that we haven’t had a match for four weeks – particularly from our play within the first 25 minutes.
“I thought we were very sloppy on and off the ball, and I suppose we were lucky to go ahead.
“Having said that, our first goal in particular was very good. The way we developed the play for it is something we have been working on a lot in training – so, as a coach, those types of moments along with the clean sheet and the three points were big positives.
“I don’t usually pick out individuals but I thought Connley Fairweather’s all-round performance was excellent and that was a big plus point for us too.”
The coach added: “I definitely see a marked improvement within the entire group since the start of the season, but we now need the lads to make sure that they work even harder on their individual development and for the team to also start putting in 90-minute performances.
“That is something we have been demanding from the boys but we’ve yet to see from them this year. I’m positive it will happen at some point, hopefully soon.”
