Academy manager Byron Anthony stated that progressing to the second round of the FA Youth Cup was important after Bristol Rovers U18s' 3-1 victory over Badshot Lea at The Memorial Stadium.
The Gas took an early lead through Trey Cadette, who displayed a poacher instinct to latch onto Will Lott's blocked clearance and roll his effort into an open net.
Kian Hill saw a penalty saved for the Gas soon after before Harry Greenwood netted a spot-kick to send the tie into extra time. However, the Pirates prevailed, with Cadette curling his penalty into the net before Woody Cole added a late third to confirm the victory.
Anthony was pleased to make it into the next round and stated there was plenty to learn from the game, especially with the experience of playing at The Memorial Stadium.
We’re into the next round...
"I think the most important thing is that we’re into the next round," he said. "We set that out at the beginning when we spoke to the players in the dressing room.
"It’s like anything when you’re playing in a cup competition, it’s about getting through, and the players have done that tonight. All be it in a challenging game.
"I didn’t think there was a lot of quality in the game, and we made that known to the players at half-time and the end."
Moments in front of goal...
"In these moments when you get in front, especially early in the competition where you play a non-league team, you’re going to find moments where you get in front of goal, and we just didn’t take them," said Anthony.
"We took the first goal, which was worked well and then won the penalty and we missed it. Then there’s a little bit of doubt in some players' minds and some wrong decisions in the final third, where it was either erratic, rushed or miscued.
"The players felt a little bit of pressure after that, keeping it at 1-0, where they always knew that Badshot were in the ascendancy where they could get a goal and did in the second half."
Badshot always knew they were in the game...
"Badshot always knew they were in the game, which was a pressure to our players and something that they haven’t felt before, which was a good learning curve for them," he said.
"You can pick the bones out of it on Thursday when we go through it with the players, but there’s loads of learning in there."
The players have played at The Mem in front of a decent crowd...
"The players have played at The Mem in front of a decent crowd," said the manager. "Not a lot of players get to do that. These players have done that tonight and scored three goals. We’ll take the positives out of that and then move forward with some fantastic learning experiences.
"Those players can really package that up, take that onto the next round and take that into their careers. You can’t beat playing at your home ground. Some of those players are Rovers fans. They always want to play out on that pitch, and they’ve had that opportunity tonight."
