Tranmere Rovers youth team manager Andy Parkinson says that his side need more quality as they slipped to a 2-0 defeat at home to Fleetwood Town in the EFL North West Youth Alliance on Saturday morning.
Rovers’ youngsters were back in action at the Club’s Campus training ground and were narrowly beaten by their Cod Army counterparts.
And while Parkinson feels the desire and commitment were there to see, he believes that “principles” must be met moving forward.
“The desire is there,” said Parkinson. “The commitment is there. We just need quality all around.
“At this level, we find it difficult to keep clean sheets, there's always plenty of goals in youth games. We just have to keep moving forward and embed the principals of the football club.’
“The team have conceded 13 goals in 4 league games. By any stretch, that's not good. In and amongst that, the team have been down to 10 men on two occasions in those games.
“If you talk about discipline, you don't want to take away a player's desire to tackle and their desire to be competitive. They're on a learning curve and if it is a disciplinary issue, they are spoken to and advised.
“Keeping clean sheets is a massive part of the game at any level, and it is a difficulty because young players do make mistakes, especially at this level.
“The youth team level is very competitive, and mistakes will be made, but it's about learning, and as long as we help the players improve and help them learn from their experience, then we're helping them develop, which is what it's all about.”