Andy Williams reflects on Poland defeat

Thursday 08 March 2012By ESFA Office

Last Updated:
10/02/2021 10:49:16

Andy Williams - England Under 18 Schools' Football Team Manager

Andy Williams

esfa.co.uk caught up with the England Under 18 Schools' Team Manager, Andy Williams, to gain his insight into Wednesday night's defeat at the hands of Poland.  Here is what he had to say:

"I want to start by congratulating my players on their performance tonight. Make no mistake, this was an outstanding Poland side, and indeed they are in the middle of a two week training camp preapring for the forthcoming UEFA Championship elite round, so their preparation was much better than ours going into this game!

We were very disappointed in our own performance last Friday and that's not wishing to take anything away from Wales; we all knew we had let ourselves down. I asked the players to give me a response and I believe they did. I hope those 1700+ people who turned out to watch us went home feeling the same way, leaving the ground happy with what we tried to accomplish.

With no preparation at all for the match, it is testament to the players we have selected this year that they were able to pick up on the game plan and the tactics we employed so quickly . To an man I thought they were excellent. I do feel, however, that we again walked away thinking "if only". We frustrated Poland and limited their chances throughout; although they scored a superb second, their first was of our making. When you analyse the game with the scores at 0-0 we had opportunties to take the lead; Peter Glen-Ravenhill, Ben Mooney and Jack Pounce have each had wonderful efforts and Louis Hobbs has hit the woodwork yet again. The rest as they say is history. To start winning we have to learn from this fact and stop being so naive.

Yes we're disappointed to have lost the game, but we're not down-hearted. There are many positives we shall take from this evening as we continue to progress as a squad. We know what we want to accomplish and we will continue to believe we have the capacity to deliver. We are steadily improving as we come to the critical stage of proceedings in the Centenary Shield, we are all very optimistic.

Finally, a huge thank you to Dagnham and Redbridge for hosting such a prestigious occasion and to the ESFA officers and officials who put in so much hard work in making it all happen."

View England U18 Schools Team Fixtures & Results 2012

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