Youngsters finally back in action

Sep 4 2007 by Chris Wright, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL under-18s bid to finally get their season up and running when they travel to Nottingham Forest this Saturday (kick-off 11am).

Hugh McAuley’s side made an awful start when they lost 5-0 at Aston Villa on the opening day.

Any hope of getting back on track quickly was scuppered by the postponement of their first home match of the Premier Academy League season when Sunderland’s coach broke down on the way to Kirkby.

And with last week’s fixture against Huddersfield Town also having to be rescheduled due to five of squad playing in a under-16s tournament in Venice, which Dave Shannon’s side won, Liverpool will have been inactive for three weeks before they return on Saturday.

After those players returned yesterday, McAuley can now build towards Saturday’s match.

He said: “With half the team out with Dave Shannon in Italy, things have been quite quiet. But we have obviously been working well on one or two things.

“But it will be like starting the season again at Forest. From the last game we have to put one or two things right. We need to get out with the right positive attitude and try and improve our game which I’m sure they will.

“The lads have worked hard and will continue to do so for the rest of the week and hopefully we can see that in the coming weeks.”

McAuley added: “It is three weeks since we played which is a big break, but things should start to get going now. The reserves start on Tuesday, so we can have a look at them and get on with our game at the weekend.”

Premier League reporting restrictions for U16s mean we cannot bring you full details of the tournament in Italy.