Ipswich Town under-21's boss John McGreal was delighted by the way his side dealt with the challenge of facing Borussia Mönchengladbach at short notice.
The club announced on Thursday night that the pre-season friendly would not be played by the first-team squad as scheduled, with the young Blues brought in to face the Bundesliga outfit.
Gladbach - whose sporting director, Roland Virkus, labelled the decision as 'incredibly disappointing' - fielded a full-strength side, winning the match 3-1. However, McGreal was impressed by the way they handed an intense and fiery game in controversial circumstances.
“It’s more like an innocence, really – eyes wide shut in a way. You don’t know, you’re going in and you’re trying to give them an idea," he said after the match.
“They all know who Borussia Mönchengladbach are, they were a massive force in the 70s and 80s. I remember going back to 1977 when Liverpool beat them in the [European Cup] final.
“They’re steeped in history but the boys can’t buy that experience. I’m absolutely delighted and really proud of them because they made every minute of that game count. Even with the subs coming on.
“I think that’s where we are with the football club. Opportunity knocks. You can either pass it on to someone else or take it and run. Those boys have done that today, I thought they were excellent.”
Of course, it's an experience that will live with them for a long time, giving them valuable exposure against some of the best players in the German top flight.
“It’s an experience that some of the boys will cherish for a long, long time," McGreal added. "They’re 18 years of age, a lot of them. We’re trying to create careers for these boys, so getting the opportunity to play against a top, top Bundesliga team – Premier League, as such – is an unbelievable achievement for them, to grace the pitch with them.
“I have to admit, they [Borussia Mönchengladbach] were fantastic as well, they didn’t come off it. I thought we gave them a really, really good test. We conceded three set plays and our boys were up for the test, we trained really hard this week and you could see that in the play today.
“Our gaffer [Kieran McKenna] uses our boys quite a lot, so we’re not unknown to playing against a first XI as such because our boys go across quite a lot with the first team. As you can see there, we’re trying to identify ourselves with how the first team play.
“Credit to the boys. You’re going into that game thinking, ‘what could happen?’, but you’ve got to give credit to the lads. I thought they were excellent, every single one of them.”
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