Under 21s impress in senior warm-up test

Sixteen-year-olds Callum Dennett and Charlie Ratclliffe turned out for a youthful Under 21s in their pre-season opener.

Runcorn Linnets Under 21s kicked off pre-season ahead of their Premier Division debut campaign in North West Development League, acquitting themselves very well against CIty of Liverpool first team.

Action from the friendly against CIty of Liverpool 1sts. Pictures by Kelly Jones.

The match saw a quick reunion with Karl Clair, who departed our first team squad in the summer to take charge of the Purps.

Karl and his assistant Harrison Coady had nothing but praise for our young, experimental team who were finally beaten 3-2 from three goals down.

Linnets U21s manager Ste Ellams was, likewise, delighted with the team's performance after six weeks of training.

Newcomer Joel Street scored both comeback goals as a substitute.

He was formerly part of the Cheshire Schools team, managed by Ellams, and has been an Academy stalwart at Rochdale.

With Lewis Crane and Jay Lee both unavailable, the Linnets squad featured nine Under 18 players and two 16 year olds from our U17s in Charlie Ratcliffe and Callum Dennett.

Other standout performers were left back Ben Dobbie and winger Harry Vernon, both part of last season's double-winning squad in Division One.

Boss Ellams's post-match message to the players was clear.

He said: "Honestly, I just want to hammer home how proud I am of each and everyone of you.

"Nobody at 21s goes and plays a (North West) Counties Prem side and competes like that.

"The application was sensational throughout. I think we showedeverybody what we’re going to be about. Scorelines are irrelevant in pre-season but, in reality, we’ll be the happier side."