Youngsters defeated by Lincoln...

Rotherham United’s Academy were defeated 3-0 by Lincoln City in their last match action in the Youth Alliance League but Lead Professional Phase Coach Ciaran Toner believes that the scoreline was harsh on the youngsters, who forged a number of good opportunities to register against the Imps.

The Millers were dealt just their second league defeat of the season at the weekend, having managed to make it past the turn of the year with an unblemished record, but found themselves on the wrong end of the result.

“Ultimately we have to look at it in two ways for the lads and their development,” Toner told www.themillers.co.uk.

“The result is one of them, which obviously on paper doesn't look like it’s been a good day.

“However, we felt that we should have had two penalties that we didn't get and we scored a goal that was disallowed for offside.

“The frustrating thing is that our players can be affected by that as young men in that they may feel a little hard done to.”

Toner admitted that the style of football that Lincoln adopted for the game presented the youngsters with a different type of challenge that he believes will benefit their development within the Academy.

“It was challenging for us to be able to remain resilient, which gives us a different opportunity to develop the lads,” he continued.

“On reflection, looking at the game on the whole, some of our possession-based football was fantastic. Some of it was really great to see and we created loads of chances. Ultimately we made some mistakes which cost us goals, so the lads need to understand the importance of that, whilst still appreciating our development plans for them.

“The type of football that Lincoln played offered us challenges but there were times where I felt we did some great things in the game, so we have to take that and accept the result and move forward. It's not always about how the score ends up, it’s the manner in which the result comes about that's really key to the Academy process.”