Under-18 coach proud of players achievements at Academy level

Under-18 coach Alex Morris will be aiming to make it a double success at Academy level this week when he sets his team up to tackle Huddersfield Town in the Professional Development League 11 Final tomorrow morning.  The Crewe Alexandra youngsters will be taking on their counterparts from Huddersfield at their John Smith Stadium with a 11am Kick-Off time, so that can hopefully make it back to the Alexandra Stadium to watch the first-team take on Preston North End in the end of the season finale.

The Club’s Under-21 side led by James Collins successfully won their competition after beating QPR at Loftus Road on Wednesday and Morris is hopeful that the younger group can follow their example.

Ahead of their Cup Final this weekend, Alex said: “It’s good news all round for the Club in terms of the development leagues. To get both the U21’s and U18’s into the final is an indication of the good work that’s going on here and the standard of player that we have potentially got coming through.

“We haven’t prioritised winning the leagues or getting into the play-offs, it’s all about development at this club. The fact that we’ve not prioritised winning and still had good seasons in both would seem to indicate that there’s some good players at the Academy and in the U21’s and first team.

“We’ve had peaks and troughs this season, but that’s what you’re going to get with 17 and 18 year old players. Half of the team have been promoted to the U21’s, and that’s good, it’s the priority to help them progress – and in turn we’ve promoted some U16’s and given the chance to some first year scholars.

“We’ve had a good run towards the end of the season putting four or five wins together that have allowed us to reach the play-offs and now the final, so it’s all looking good. It has just been a great learning curve for all of them.”