- Alex Morris on PL2 thriller against Norwich City on Monday evening
- Under-21s boss highlights positive second half approach as key to victory
- Reddin praised for impact from the bench following 4-2 win at Clayton Wood
Stoke City Under-21s Head Coach Alex Morris praised his side’s positive approach as the young Potters sealed a 4-2 win against Norwich City in PL2 on Monday evening.
Goals from forwards Nathan Lowe and Jack Griffiths, in addition to two late strikes from attacking duo Emre Tezgel and Kahrel Reddin, saw the Potters earn a fourth consecutive victory.
Speaking shortly after the six-goal thriller at Clayton Wood, Morris explained that City were rewarded for playing with more belief and confidence as the game progressed.
“I enjoyed our performance and I would be saying the same thing irrespective of whether the result went in our favour or not,” Morris said.
“We did really well, particularly in the second half.
“In the first half the game ebbed and flowed and there were aspects of the performance that we tried to fix at half-time to make us a bit more penetrative in the opposition’s half of the pitch.
“In the first half we passed back a little bit too much and we were too safe, we wanted the boys to show a little bit more belief in themselves and look forward more so that we had more of a threat.
“They did that and the outcome of that was we got four goals.”
The Potters showed composure throughout the affair, particularly in the second half, and cancelled out the first-half deficit before ruthlessly taking the game away from the visitors in the latter stages.
“I think the players have learned that they are good players today,” Morris continued. “They have learned that, when they show belief and confidence in their own capabilities individually and off the back of that collectively, they can achieve some good performances and results.
“There were moments of individual quality mixed in with some collective work as well, Emre [Tezgel] took his goal excellently, Kahrel [Reddin] too and the build-up to that goal was great with some good work from Keke Jeffers to find Kahrel in the box.
“There was also some fantastic individual play from Emre to stand the ball up for [Jack] Griffiths for the second goal so across all of the goals, other than the penalty which was a goal that we forced rather than created, we produced some good moments.”
Reddin, who scored the game’s decisive goal, came in for particular praise from Morris for the impact he made after being introduced 20 minutes from time.
“I was pleased with Kahrel and I mentioned in the dressing room after the game that what epitomises the way that the group is training and playing at the moment, is how well they are all responding to setbacks,” he said.
“Kahrel would’ve seen it as a setback to not start the game, he would’ve expected to have started, but we had a good pool of players to choose from.
“He responded in as good a fashion as you could’ve possibly hoped for when he came on by scoring an important goal and providing the assist for Emre.”