Calum McFarlane on "proud" night in FA Youth Cup
Southampton Under-18s Head Coach Calum McFarlane spoke of his pride after watching his side beat Derby County 4-1 to progress to the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup on Tuesday evening.
Derby took the lead after just 16 seconds at St Mary’s, but Saints stuck to the task well and led by half time after goals from Sufianu Sillah Dibaga and Baylee Dipepa.
A second goal from Dipepa and a close range finish from Harry Gathercole confirmed Saints’ place in the final eight of the competition, and McFarlane highlighted how well his players had performed given the challenge they faced.
“I'm really proud of how the team played, I'm really proud of how the team took our instructions on and rose to the challenge." he said.
"It's always interesting to see how they're going to react in this sort of game, a lot of these lads would have dreamt of [playing at St Mary's] for six, seven, eight years.
"The FA Youth Cup has such prestige to it, the game is at a main stadium, family and friends are watching, it's a great opportunity to see how they react in that environment, even better when you go 1-0 down so early on but I just thought we were brilliant tonight, so I'm so proud of the lads and I'm happy for them.
“Our message for the evening was show who you are, show who you are in these big moments as an individual and as a team. I thought anyone watching that, from our club or anywhere else, you can't help but be impressed with that group of players.”
Saints' Under-18s squad and staff reflect on a momentous night. (Photos: Craig Hobbs)
Several Saints players who have been pushed on to Under-21s level this season came back into the Under-18s fold to face Derby on Tuesday evening, with the likes of Jay Robinson and Baylee Dipepa impressing individually.
Having joined Saints at the beginning of the 2023-24 season, McFarlane took time to reflect on the journey that the academy has been on since he took charge of the Under-18s group.
He said: “I think you've got to look at it maybe from a wider lens. I've been here 18 months and a lot of the players that you see tonight, who are now second years, I had them last year as first years. There was a new coach, new philosophy, new ideas, new level.
“There were all these challenges and we had some really bad results and some good results and we were up and down, but I knew that if we stayed consistent with our messaging and the lads believed in what we were doing, they would come good.
"If we look at it from a wider lens, the last 18 months, for the lads to go and put that performance on tonight tells me we're in the right direction."
McFarlane added, "everyone enjoys winning football games, but if you look at the performance level of the group this year, it's been brilliant. I actually think we're underachieving in the league [in third place].
“I don't think there's been any games this year where the opposition are better than us, but we just haven't been ruthless enough in the final third and it was really pleasing to see that tonight in a big game when there's pressure.
"But the biggest thing at this club, and it always has been, is to push players as quickly as you can, so the Under-21s at the moment are starting six Under-18s players.
"Five of them dropped down tonight, so there's success in different ways, but it's great to get all the lads together and put what we think is a really strong side out and see how far we can go in this competition.”
The history of the FA Youth Cup is well known and this season provides an opportunity for the current group of Saints academy talent to write themselves into club folklore with only two previous semi-final appearances to date.
Looking at what Tuesday’s occasion provided for the players, McFarlane explained how it was another strong step in development for his squad.
He said: “I think it's so important for their development, when you get these sort of nights and moments and you come through the difficult period at the beginning, hopefully this prepares them for the real world, which is going to hopefully be playing in stadiums like this in front of full crowds and under pressure.
“You can't really create that on a Saturday morning at 11 o'clock, so this is massive for their development and obviously the FA Youth Cup with such prestige behind it and naturally, there's so much pressure with it.
"They know one bad night and they're out, so it's so good for them. It's a shame we can't get more of this because I think it would really help players' development.”
