YOUTH team boss Paul Bodin praised his players’ professionalism after they put a sluggish start behind them to earn a 6-1 victory over Cirencester Town last night.

The visitors enjoyed the better of the first 15 minutes at the County Ground and could easily have taken the lead before Connor Waldon put Town ahead, but the young striker completed his hat-trick while an Alex Ferguson brace and one from Aaron Ferris completed the scoring.

Bodin believes things could have been different had they gone behind early on, but was pleased with the way his side bounced back despite Ryan Rawlins’ late red card.

“Cirencester are a good college team and they have been for many years, and they play fast, quick, football and to be fair they had one or two chances before we got the first goal,” he said. “Maybe it took their two opportunities to spark us into life a little bit in terms of our defending, and even the goal they scored at the end was a little disappointing because it is always good to keep a clean sheet.

“If they had taken one of those it could have been a bit different, but I am pleased with the professionalism throughout the game, albeit there was no need for Ryan Rawlins’ red card in the 85th minute.

“We have been to see their lad and he is okay, although we feared there could have been a break, and we sent in Ryan with his apologies and we move on.”

The boss was pleased with the manner in which his side took their goals, and also highlighted the performance of Jake Simpson who only arrived back from international duty with Jamaica in the early hours of the morning.

“Three goals for Connor, two for Fergie (Alex Ferguson) and one from Aaron Ferris is great, so there were goals all over the pitch,” he said. “Connor as a striker leads the line well and I am delighted he managed to get a hat-trick, and he was supported from midfield with some great finishes, and young Aaron Ferris cutting in from the left and smashing one home was great.

“We were not sure if Jake Simpson was going to be back in the country but he was fantastic and kept it ticking and played some great balls forward.

“We have all had a bit of jet-lag in our time and it is very demanding, but he lasted 65 or 70 minutes and was the catalyst for our performance.”

The win booked a third-round meeting with Liverpool, and Bodin knows his young players will need to take things up a gear if they are to compete with the Premier League giants.

“Against Liverpool we will have to tidy up a lot more and be a bit brighter in the opening 10 or 15 minutes, because if you go down by a goal or two against a team like Liverpool you will be punished,” he said. “We can focus on the game now and if we can get some videos sent down we will, but they will have 28 apprentices and they can change their team so much, so it will almost be a case of trying to pick out their key players on the night.

“But we always look at what we do, and it is important our players show out on the County Ground what we can do.”