RUGBY TOWN: Another tournament victory for Academy youngsters

Rugby Town's Academy team with their medals and trophy

Liam O’Neill’s boys won another Premier League VAR tournament organised by the professional referees association PGMOL, after beating National League club Aldershot 2-0 in the final thanks to goals from Cally Stewart and Eli Mangwa.

Town had finished their group unbeaten - including a win over the other Rugby-based academy the Strachan Foundation.

O’Neill reflected: “It’s a great achievement for us to win there again. It was a huge effort for our boys, as they’d had a really heavy schedule over the previous seven days.

Academy manager Liam ONeill (centre) with coaches Joe ONeill and Scott Dutton

“The 120 minutes at Grimsby in the FA Youth Cup followed by another match on Monday and then a National League Cup match the day before St George’s was gruelling to say the least. They way the lads handled four 60 minute matches to win the trophy was fantastic, their fitness levels were superb.”

The impact being made by Town’s Academy prospects was also noted.

O’Neill added: “We have had several football league clubs enquire over the last few days about some of our players. I think it speaks volumes for what we are trying to achieve here at Butlin Road in terms of the development of our local young talent.”

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