Barry Lewtas' reaction to FA Youth Cup win: 'I'm so proud of the boys'
Barry Lewtas admitted he only watched one penalty during the shootout that saw Liverpool U18s beat Manchester City to clinch the FA Youth Cup trophy.
Paul Glatzel scored the decisive spot-kick in a 5-3 victory for the young Reds on Thursday night after Bobby Duncan's late long-range strike forced extra-time at City's Academy Stadium to cancel out Nabil Touaizi's first-half opener.
Lewtas saluted the resilience of his side as they secured the club its first triumph in the prestigious youth competition since 2007.
Read on for the manager's post-match reaction...
On his thoughts about the game...
It seems a long time ago since it kicked off! I thought Manchester City were excellent in the first half. I could pick holes in our performance, but I'd be doing them a disservice. I thought they were excellent. They were probably the first team who have played through us like that, I thought they were really good and well organised.
I thought in the second half we just got closer to them. We tweaked a few things, we wanted to make the boys feel a bit more comfortable being out of possession. But when we got it, we had to keep the ball better and I think we did in the second half. Obviously we got the goal and from there on in it was survival of the fittest - injury time, penalties. That's the way it goes.
On the challenge of the final...
We were in Dallas a week ago and we did only have two days to prepare for the game itself. Obviously the travel and [all that] is in the back of your mind, you're playing against a top team. It's tough - you come here, they've got the flags out. But it was an away game, so I think to come here and play the way we did is a credit to the lads.
On having confidence that Duncan or Glatzel would produce a moment of quality to equalise...
I think you do. They've scored so many goals. You always think if a chance drops or they shoot then yes. That's probably the short answer without me waffling. You always think they've got a chance. He [Duncan] has struck one. We trained with the balls this week, they do move and we said that to the boys. The 'keeper is a little unfortunate but with them two you've always got a chance.
On what it was like watching the penalties from the sideline...
I'm going to be honest, I watched one and then I didn't watch any of the others. The lads can tell me where they put it, they can say what they want. I'm not one for penalties, so in the end Scott [Mason, U18s performance analyst] tells me they were crackers. As long as they hit the net, I was fine. It was really good.
On the efforts of his players since he took over from Steven Gerrard in the summer...
They've been brilliant since day one when I started working with them and probably met them as 14-year-olds and, for some of them, even younger. They've never given me anything less than that. Even when times have got tough as well, they've always dug in. I'm proud of them and made up.