The Luton Town Cedars U18 development team build on their success from last season
The Luton Town Cedars U18 development squad pick up from where they left off last season with a further 4 winners trophies, 1 runners up spot and 1 semi-Final from the 8 competitions they entered.
The full Role of Honour reads as follows:
Southern Counties Floodlit Youth League: Colwyn Cup: - Winners
Southern Counties Floodlit Youth League: Brian Hitchings Cup: - Winner
Bedfordshire Schools County Cup: - Winners.
South Beds District Schools Cup: - Winners.
Southern Counties Floodlit Youth League: Corinthian Division: - Runners Up
ESFA National Under 18 Schools Cup: - Semi Finalists
Additional to the trophies the programme has provided very real opportunities for the players to progress into Paul Drivers Luton Town Professional Scholars Under 18 group. With this seasons highlight being goalkeeper Ed Davey being used as substitute in 2 rounds, one of which was he quarter final of the F.A. Youth Cup.
Head Coach Stuart Smith said, ‘The lads have performed extremely well this season many respects; scoring 179 goals in 52 competitive games shows our attacking capabilities. However, we didn’t balance this well enough by keeping clean sheets and 70 goals conceded tells its own story. Overall we are a little disappointed with the final trophy haul, feeling that with the quality we possess we should have finished the season with 5, 6 trophies.’
Stuart added, 'However the most satisfying aspect of the season has been the fact that nearly every squad we have named, including the one that reached the National Semis involved 12 or 13 first years. While this will not be used as an excuse - this was certainly physically and psychologically a telling factor in the Under 19 competitions and some of the bigger games where we put pressure on the lads to get results.
We are delighted with the quality of the football that has been played and for the majority of the season this has been excellent. We have asked the lads to play a more progressive possession based game with a lot more attacking fluency and also asked them to play in a difficult shape they have not been used too.
The lads have responded well to this and our goal total tells us that they are taking on this part of our philosophy. However, we are in the professional development stage so as well as developing the lads technically we must improve them tactically. The progress in this area has also been very satisfying with everyone performing well in our base shape - and also capable of switching to other positions should it be required. Going forward the lads now must improve their ability to keep clean sheets, close games out and be more effective at both ends of the pitch with their set plays.
These techniques and skills are vital in their progression in to competitive adult football. Overall we are looking to develop intelligent technical players who play the game in the right way but at the same time understand how to manage and win a game which is ultimately what a first team manager requires. The lad’s development is in no small measure and it's down to the excellent work of our coach Joe Deeney and physio Lynsey Northeast whose time and expertise has been invaluable to the lads - who in return have shown a great willingness to learn.’