Luggy on Woody: 'I just took him off to make sure he didn't have a bad taste in his mouth'

13 December 2010 13:51
Blues boss Paul Sturrock took a gamble when playing 18-year old midfielder Alex Woodyard against Burton Saturday, but now the young lad's had a taste, he wants more! Old Luggy took a gamble at the weekend when he handed teenage defensive midfielder Alex Woodyard his senior debut at the Pirelli Stadium against Burton Albion.A gamble that you would have to say didn't pay off as, sadly, he only lasted a half in the disappointing 3-1 loss, and was handed a tough looking 4 out of 10 by, er, me.You can only give what you see, and even in a suspension and injury hit squad this was, literally, a boy v men for the second year scholar.The Shrimpers manager Paul Sturrock though felt he was right to take the risk.Luggy told www.echo-news.co.uk: "Alex didn't let anyone down in there but he did find the pace of the game hard, like any player would making their debut at his age. I just took him off to make sure he didn't have a bad taste in his mouth but he has done well for us this season and deserved his chance." Still, Alex has been in cracking form for Ricky Duncan's Under-18's and certainly deserved his promotion into the squad, if not maybe a straight replacement for the in-form but five yellow carded Anthonty Grant, who will be back for Cheltenham Tuesday evening.Even so, with the confidence of youth he's not going to let a half-time substituion get him down, the Kent-based lad wants more! Also speaking to the Echo Alex said: "I was really pleased to be in the team but it would have been better if we had got a good result. The manager told me on the morning of the match that I would be starting and I was a bit nervous to start with. The style of play was more physical than I had been used to and Burton were just a bit sharper and better than us, which was frustrating. They won more of the second balls but hopefully I can get another chance in the team again soon and we can get a better result." The Woodyard Fileswww.shrimperstrust.co.uk/home.asp?page_id=236

Source: FOOTYMAD