Fri Aug 19, 2016 6:27 am
Crewe under 23's 2 Cardiff City DVP 3
CREWE youth team coach boss Alex Morris believes it will be a school of hard knocks for his side after they kicked off their new under-23 campaign with a 3-2 defeat against Cardiff City at Reaseheath.
A Callum Saunders brace had put the Alex 2-0 up on Wednesday, only for an experienced Cardiff side to hit back with goals from Rhys Healy, an Adam Le Fondre penalty and 89th minute Tom Adeyemi header.
The year's Professional Development League will this year will be an under-23 competition, just like the Checkatrade Trophy, rather than an under-21 league as it was last year.
Despite the increased age bracket this season, the Alex are still expected to field a side of mainly first-year professionals and scholars, with the occasional outings for first-teamers in need of games, as they did with George Ray and Ben Nugent, the oldest player at 23, in their opening game.