Allen talks youngsters, trialist and recruitment after final pre-season outing

Martin Allen relished the opportunity to see some of his young players in action against the men of Matlock Town.
Chesterfield FC v Wigan, Martin AllenChesterfield FC v Wigan, Martin Allen
Chesterfield FC v Wigan, Martin Allen

The Gladiators ran out 4-2 winners at Causeway Lane in front of a 1,300-plus crowd.

Allen fielded a team full of youth team and academy players, with his senior squad ‘wrapped in cotton wool’ before Saturday’s National League kick-off.

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“I enjoyed it, I think it was a lovely occasion, a big crowd and a chance for me to see some more of our young players playing against men,” he said.

“It’s a big step up, men against boys and you could see from set plays, every time they had a set play they looked like they were going to score.

“I thought in the second half we gave a much better account of ourselves, played some good football and I enjoyed watching the whole game.

“I can see why our supporters enjoy coming here and next season we will definitely make this a good Saturday game and bring the first team.

“I thought Matlock were excellent as well.”

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Playing on the left wing for Town was trialist Ryan Hill, a 20-year-old recently released by Stoke City.

He scored the second goal for Chesterfield with a looping header.

Allen planned to speak to the youngster after the game.

“He did alright,” said the Town boss.

“He’s been at Stoke, he hasn’t got a club at the moment and a friend of mine said we should take a look at him, so I’ll have a chat with him and see how far we can take that.”

The manager revealed that a number of the club’s young players are likely to spend time elsewhere on loan in the near future, to get experience of senior football.

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“At the moment we need ready-made, we can’t really wait too much for the future.

“Some of these players we’ve seen tonight will probably be going out on loan to get the experience of what they enjoyed tonight.

“They’ve got to get past this to get to the next level.”

As far as recruitment goes, Allen is playing the waiting game when it comes to potential additions to his frontline.

“We’ll have to wait and see.

“I’m happy with my squad I’ve got at the moment.

“If we are going to bring in people from the outside to join in what we’ve got, then they’ve got to be pretty good.

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“We all saw Hines and Gozie play last week, I’d have to be mad to replace them at the moment.

“We’ve seen Shaw on Saturday, he had four good chances in a team that kind of struggled, so he’s always got a chance in him.

“I’ve got three good strikers now.

“Do I change it and add another? I’m not sure, we’ll have to see how it goes.

“But there is money if we want it.”