Academy director proud as King’s Lynn U23s narrowly beaten by Norwich City U21s

Norfolk Senior Cup Quarter-Final

King’s Lynn U23 0, Norwich City U21 2

King's Lynn Town Academy director Alex Cross was proud of his young side as they went toe to toe with their Canaries counterparts at The Walks on Monday night.

After a goalless first half, City scored from a 49th-minute free kick by Scotland youth international Gabe Forsyth and doubled their lead through former Watford midfielder Aidan Manning 16 minutes from the end.

But the young Linnets fought right until the final whistle against a side who had beaten Leeds United’s academy outfit by the same 2-0 scoreline just three days before.

Cross said: “I thought we did really well. We’re a team of mainly 18 and 19-year-olds playing against a Championship U21 side. More than 80% of our lads played 60 minutes or more for their clubs on Saturday and 48 hours later they are playing Norwich City U21s with all their members of staff and all their mod cons.

“We went toe to toe with them for the majority of the game and it’s just one goal that we could have done a lot better with and the second goal just not defending the post as well as we could.

“We also had some half chances to go and get something out of the game towards the back end, particularly when it opened up. It’s frustrating to an extent but in the same breath, I am really proud of the players as I thought they were excellent to a man.

“We were a bit braver on the ball towards the back end of the game and got in around the sides a little bit more and on another day we get more opportunities and more rub of the green. But credit to Norwich who applied themselves really well and good luck to them in the next round.”

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