Cowans On Reserves Disappointment

Gordon Cowans has talked of his disappointment in the reserves for failing to find a 'creative spark', yet he has no such complaints about their effort.

Club Legend, Sid, was delighted with the overall work ethic and commitment of the squad as he took charge of them for the first time following the promotion of Kevin MacDonald and Tony McAndrew to first team affairs, especially as a number of Academy stars made their first bows in the team.

Whilst we had (now first team experienced lads) like Clark, Lichaj and Hogg on the pitch, a fair few Academy graduates stepped up in the hope they too can become household names over the next few season - lads like Samir Carruthers, Daniel Johnson and Graham Burke especially who was promoted on the back of his U18's performance earlier in the week.

Speaking on the Official Site Cowans admitted he was disappointed that we created so little but hopes that it will be a steep learning curve for the boys, and a mistake they will soon rectify.

'I was disappointed, but the lads couldn't have tried any harder in the second half. They really put a shift in and had a good go.'

Villa did have the ball in the back of the net thanks to Eric Lichaj, but sadly it was disallowed for offside, much to Sid's annoyance.

'I was just a little bit disappointed that we didn't create anything in the final third other than the goal that we scored which I thought was a good goal - Eric has definitely come from behind the ball and has got himself into the box.'

Overall, Cowans is looking for improvement over the coming weeks and he'll leave the second string with no doubts on how they need to improve.

'It is only the first game but we will be disappointed with that and we need to get better.'

Being fair it was never going to be an easy game, we had a few lads away on international duty, Weimann is injured, and obviously a number of lads moving from the Academy to reserve level and they'll take a few games to bed in - let alone Gordon being promoted to a new role and a new level.

Going for a fourth consecutive title is going to be difficult, but it's certainly not beyond us.

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