Boss Cunnington praises youth team management (From Halesowen News)

Boss Cunnington praises youth team management

1:06pm Thursday 26th April 2012 in Evo-Stick Southern One South & West Table & Results

Halesowen Town manager Shaun Cunnington believes the club’s up and coming young players will help provide a bright future.

Cunnington has been impressed by the hard work of youth boss Andre Whyte and assistant Mark Smith this season.

As a result, he’s been able to call upon the services of promising youngsters such as Joe Drake, Spencer Blackham and Jean Michel Gueyes in recent weeks.

Blackham started in Saturday’s impressive 3-2 win at promotion-chasing Sholing on Saturday, while Gueyes came on as a first-half substitute for the injured Nathan Jackson.

“A youth set-up is the lifeblood of any club so we have concentrated on trying to produce some of our own players,” said the Yeltz boss.

“With the way non-league football is you have to have a strong junior section and I think the guys working on it have done well.

“We’ve given the likes of Jean Michel Gueyes and Spencer Blackham a chance over the last two or three weeks and I am sure one or two of the younger players will have an opportunity on Saturday.”

Halesowen head into their final game of the season at home to Taunton on Saturday (3pm kick-off) in the Evo-Stik Southern League Division One South and West on the back of a three-game unbeaten run.

Victory would seal a solid mid-table finish, which after a transitional campaign, where Cunnington has had to rebuild the squad, would be a satisfactory conclusion for the manager.

He said: “I think this season we’ve worked hard to build a solid foundation.

“We were hampered by poor discipline earlier in the season but we’re ending the season well and we’d love to beat Taunton and end the campaign on a high for the fans.”

Meanwhile, the manager was full of praise for hat-trick hero Marcus Jackson, who had bagged two levellers before stroking home an 85th-minute penalty to win the match.

Striker Ben Haseley is expected to have recovered from a swollen eye which forced him off on Saturday in time for Saturday’s clash but Nathan Jackson, who picked up a hamstring injury, remains a doubt.