Boss Kieran McKenna says the Blues having to switch to an U21s squad for yesterday’s friendly with Borussia Mönchengladbach at the ATS Sportpark in Heimstetten was frustrating for everyone.

Town pulled their senior side out of the game on Thursday due to a lack of numbers, much to the Bundesliga club’s annoyance.

“I know it was frustrating for everyone,” McKenna said. “It’s not something that we wanted to happen but the reality is that we’ve been really short of bodies this week, right up until yesterday, to be honest. Today, we were deeper than we have been the rest of the week.

“We were really short right the way through the week and it was at the stage where it was going to be putting the players in jeopardy and therefore the team and the club in jeopardy for the start of the season to try and play the same group through two fixtures.

“We would like to be stronger in depth of numbers at the moment, for sure, there’s no doubt about that.

“This time last year, we played two 90 minutes on the same day and were stronger in numbers but this pre-season we’re not for different reasons.

“We were disappointed, disappointed for any supporters who travelled, of course. Understand Mönchengladbach will be frustrated, as we would be in the situation, but I have to say I thought the young players did fantastically.

“Full credit to them, full credit to John [McGreal] and David [Wright] for how they prepared them, I thought they were a credit to themselves, a credit to the club.

“I thought they made it a competitive fixture and I think the positive you can take is that it was reflective of the spirit that we’re going to need in the club this season.

“To play two Bundesliga teams in 48 hours, one in Germany, one in Austria, and to be as competitive with our young players showing the same spirit and mentality as we want from the senior players, with the position that we’re in terms of numbers, I think reflects really well on the spirit inside the club.

“It’s not how we wanted the couple of days to play out, we’re disappointed that that decision had to be made. We’re certain that it was the right decision to protect the interest of the players and of the club.

“And the positives are that everyone’s made the best of it, the players and staff who were there yesterday were a credit to themselves.

“I think the supporters who did travel will have enjoyed seeing the character shown in that grown and the players that were here today, both the senior players and the three young boys [Leon Ayinde, Ryan Carr and Osman Foyo] coming on again represented themselves really well and have made it a productive couple of days.”

Following that match U21s coach McGreal said he could see an improvement in Ayinde, Carr and Foyo from spending time training with the senior players.

“I think that happens,” he reflected. “This group, the way that the boys train, the way that they compete, the way that they push each other, you can’t help but improve in it.

“Whether that’s young players or players who we bring into the building. If you come in and you buy into the culture of the group and the way that we work, then you’re going to improve and we see that with the young players that come and train with us for any period of time and those boys are getting stronger.

“And the others, Fin [Barbrook] had a little knock in training, so he wasn’t able to come on the trip but he’s been getting stronger right the way through the pre-season as well.

“It’s really good for those boys, it helps them in their careers and I think it’s good to see in the football club that link between the academy and us and everyone working, not just from a tactical point of view, from a mentality point of view, the qualities that the first team group are going to need this season and seeing that reflected in the young players and how that will strengthen them is a big positive for all of us.”

Photo: ITFC

SouperJim added 17:00 - Aug 3 So no word on any sort of goodwill gesture for those fans who spent hundreds of pounds to go out to Germany having bought tickets for what was sold as a first team fixture. This is very poor from Town. I understand why the decision was made and it is unfortunate, but surely our loyal fans deserve some kind of recognition?
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borge added 17:33 - Aug 3 The club has done so many things well in the past couple of years it feels churlish to complain, but it does seem to have lost the ability to simply say "sorry". I feel for those who travelled for this game just as I do for the season ticket holders who were moved. There were solid reasons for both which were fully understandable, but neither were handled particularly well and what has been missing is a simple apology. I am sure we have privately apologised to Mönchengladbach, but saying sorry to them and our own fans publicly would certainly do no harm.

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SickParrot added 14:00 - Aug 4 It was the correct decision given the circumstances but the decision should've been made much earlier to give time for BMG to find another opponent and for Town fans to stay at home. The club should also be giving refunds on tickets and TV fees.
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blues1 added 16:44 - Aug 4 Sick parrot. The club don't need to give refunds bcse all fans had to do was contact the ticket sellers and they were giving full refunds.
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blues1 added 16:46 - Aug 4 Souperjim . Absolutely no need for the club to give fans anything. Full refunds were available from the ticketsellers.
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SouperJim added 18:19 - Aug 4 Couldn't disagree more, a ticket refund doesn't account for the time and money spent traveling to Germany under false pretences. A simple apology would be a good start, but so far the silence is deafening.
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