Northampton Town Under 18s coach Shane Goddard was “really proud” of his side after their 5-3 win at home to top-of-the-table AFC Wimbledon in their penultimate EFL Youth Alliance League South East fixture on Saturday morning.
Kenny Ndefo scored a hat-trick and Jack Connor and Josh Brown headed in the young Cobblers’ other goals as they extended their unbeaten run to four games in all competitions.
Speaking after the match, Goddard said: “It was a convincing win, and the boys can be proud of their work ethic, attitude and character.
“We lost the reverse fixture, so we did well to bounce back and put in the performance we did.
“We’re on an upward curve in terms of our individual and collective performances and we’ve only lost one of our last six games in all competitions.
“We scored five really good goals today and the only downsides are the goals we conceded.
“Wimbledon have won the league and they’re a good outfit, but we stood up to them and took the game to them.
“I’m really proud of the group and the work that goes into trying to improve these boys week-in week-out.”
The youth team end the regular season at home to MK Dons next week. Their opponents sit at the foot of the table as it stands.
Goddard added: “We have to maintain our standards and treat MK Dons with the same attitude we treated Gillingham and Wimbledon in the last two games.
“We had the third best defensive record in the league going into this game, but we needed to be better at scoring goals.
“We scored five today, which is a huge positive, and we have to carry that forward.
“We have to make sure our foundations and principles are all in place so we can end the regular season on a high.”