Gombau pleased with Young Lions mentality

Josep Gombau was pleased with the mentality of his young side, after Aston Villa Under-21s bowed out of the Vertu Trophy with a 3-1 defeat to an experienced Bradford City outfit at Villa Park.

Facing a full-strength Bantams XI, the Young Lions found themselves 3-1 down at half-time, though fought until the end in order to try and take something from the game.

Gombau credited his team’s spirited display and is proud of the journey they have been on in this competition.

The Under-21s Head Coach said: “I think we did a good run of games, and we arrived at this stage. It is a shame that today we did not get the result. It’s true that the game was very difficult for us.

“I think the boys showed the right mentality and put in the effort but at the end, Bradford was a very good team, and we didn’t win the game.

“We came to the second half and decided at half-time that we didn’t have anything to lose.

“We tried to press them very high, playing in their [half of the] field more than in our [half of the] field.

“We did a very good second half. We created some chances. It’s true that to concede three goals in the first half from three set-pieces created big difficulties for us. It was difficult to come back from the three goals conceded.

“The team Bradford put on was their first 11 team, the team that is playing in League Two with a lot of minutes together. A very competitive team.

“This is the kind of game we want to play as an academy, to develop our players. It was a good game, and we want to congratulate them on the victory.”

A round of 16 elimination represented Aston Villa’s best-ever performance in the EFL Trophy, as the only ‘invited’ academy side to make it through this season’s group phase.

Gombau encouraged perspective amidst disappointment in defeat, and wants his players to take the lessons from this experience into the remainder of their campaign.

On staying positive, he added: “This is how we need to see things.

“It’s true that it is hard to see it like this, because you want to win and you want to try go through, and after you get a defeat, you are thinking what you should have done better.

“But it’s true that in this competition we did very well. We got out of the group stage, and we also won in Blackpool.

“We need to be happy with the boys and just keep working. This is one more football lesson for them and for us, so [we will] keep going and keep working hard.”