U23 REACTION: Stone Enjoys Winning Feeling

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Boss pleased with progress as lessons learned with second win

2020-11-24T12:29:24.915Z

U23 REACTION: Stone Enjoys Winning Feeling

Boss pleased with progress as lessons learned with second win

2020-11-24T12:29:24.915Z

Boss pleased with progress as lessons learned with second win

Steve Stone welcomed the winning mentality growing in his team as the Clarets’ Under-23s secured their second victory of the season to move off the foot of the table.

Stone’s side held onto their lead to close out a 2-1 victory over Fulham and climb above the Cottagers in the PL2 Second Division.

Goals from Max Thompson and Joel Mumbongo were enough to get Burnley over the line as a second-half fightback from the Cottagers was repelled after they had pulled a goal back just before the break.

And even though the Clarets were unable to sustain a dominant first-half performance, Stone felt it was another step forward after four games without a win.

“It was a really good first half, playing two-touch, moving the ball quickly and an appreciation of what they’re trying to do and what we’re asking them to do,” said the U23s’ boss.

U23 REACTION: Stone Enjoys Winning Feeling - Image 1

“We created chances but when you’re playing quality opposition you can’t come off it and in the second half a mixture of us doing things we didn’t do in the first half, and them changing their intensity, meant again that you can’t expect two halves to be the same.

“It’s a great learning curve for them but what was really pleasing was that even though there were mistakes in the game, what was there was the work-rate and the stats and them all digging in to make sure they didn’t concede.

“That was evident in the likes of Ne-Jai, who we’ve asked to work harder and run harder.

“There are people in that team now who have the mentality to make sure you don’t lose goals and lose games.”

The result made it back-to-back games without defeat for the Clarets following a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa a fortnight ago.

U23 REACTION: Stone Enjoys Winning Feeling - Image 2

And Stone believes his side is getting to grips with operating at a higher standard.

“We’ve moved up to Cat One and the levels are definitely different,” he added.

“We’re coming up against the type of player who is able to open us up if we’re not right on our game, where we got away with it last year. These are really good lessons.

“It’s not easy to win a football match at professional level, especially when you to Cat One Premier League level.

“We’ve seen that a few times this season where we’ve been in games and we’ve dominated for 60 minutes and we’ve been caught on the counter-attack because teams have quality and you can get caught if you don’t do the right things.

“The basics of the game don’t change and if they do the basics right and they continue that for 90 minutes they will win more than they lose and they will develop better.

“If they start changing to doing what they want to do then that’s when they come unstuck a little bit.”