Patterson: 'Checkatrade games make us think quicker'

Goalscorer Phoenix Patterson hailed a ‘great experience’ in spite of defeat as our young Development Squad locked horns with League One leaders Portsmouth on Tuesday night.

One of eight Under-18s players in the matchday squad for the Checkatrade Trophy clash, the 18-year-old attacking midfielder fired us ahead in front of a 3,000-strong crowd at Fratton Park, only to see Pompey turn the game around in the second half with three goals in just over half-an-hour.

Harvey White, another youthful member of the team who patrolled the central midfield area with maturity alongside Under-18s colleague Jamie Bowden, pinged home a late free-kick to make the final score 3-2, although our disappointment at letting the match slip away was tempered by results filtering through from elsewhere in Southern Group A – Gillingham’s victory over Crawley Town ensured we progressed to the second round for the first time ever as runners-up to Tuesday’s hosts.

“I’m disappointed that we lost the game because I thought we could have got more. The goals they scored… I think they could have been avoided but we’ll learn from that. That said, it’s always a good experience to play in a game like this – it’s something different to playing Under-18 league games,” explained Phoenix, who has been a reliable influence in a variety of roles for our unbeaten youth team this season.

“It’s a different learning experience, playing in front of a big crowd against more physical players. It’s great, especially for our careers because we can learn to handle playing against more experienced senior players. It makes us sharper, it makes us think quicker and think ahead so it’s all good for us.”

Phoenix’s goal came following a superb defence-splitting through ball from Bowden on the half-way line. Knowing his Under-18s colleague so well, Patterson gambled with his run as soon as the ball left the central midfielder’s boot and was rewarded with the opener, despite ex-Spurs goalkeeper Luke McGee getting in the way of his first attempt.

“It was a great feeling to score at this level, especially being in front of the away fans as well – I really enjoyed it and hopefully I can score some more,” he said. “I made the run but I know Jamie’s quality so I knew he could find me with that pass. He does it every day in training so I’m not surprised – we work on it a lot, we have a good understanding and that always helps when you’re out on the pitch.

“Our second goal was pleasing too. I was always confident in Harvey to score because he’s a free-kick specialist, he works on it in training and I think he’s scored four out of five this season, so you always feel confident when he steps up.”

Reflecting on where things went wrong for us on the night after such a brave showing in the first period, Phoenix continued: “I think we let too many crosses come into the box – and second balls as well. Second balls were a big factor. Portsmouth won more than us – they kept us locked in at times but if we could have won some more of those then I reckon we could have got up the pitch more.”

The draw for the next round of the competition takes place on Friday at 1pm, live on talkSPORT radio.