Colchester United academy is praised by Danny Cowley

The U’s head coach has been impressed by the attitude and application of the club’s fledgling youngsters, as they look to make an impact at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Cowley, a former PE teacher along with brother Nicky, has been coaching home-grown players such as Noah Chilvers, Bradley Ihionvien and Marley Marshall Miranda since taking over in the Colchester hot seat, earlier this month.

And the former Portsmouth and Huddersfield Town boss has wasted no time in complimenting the U’s on their academy set-up and their coaches, after seeing them at first hand.

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Cowley said: “You have to credit the academy and the staff – all of the young players that are in the first team all have a similar attitude and this is obviously something that’s been instilled in them from a really young age, from the work that those guys have done.

“It certainly hasn’t gone unrecognised to Nicky and I.

“We’ve got so many brilliant coaches.

“I’ve been impressed with all of the young players, most importantly their attitude and their work ethic and their humility to want to learn and want to get better.

“In professional football, you see talent every day.

“You don’t play at this level without having talent but it’s about what you’re going to do with that talent and about making the most of that talent and to always have the open mind to want to learn and want to get better.

“This is hard to give the player and it has to be intrinsic.

“I love football and I love seeing young players play - the more they play, the more they’ll improve.

“They’ll continue these different experiences and build up the knowledge and that’s how young players improve.”

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Both Danny and Nicky Cowley have taken in plenty of academy games since their appointment as Colchester’s new management team, on January 4.

“The players are really, really lucky to have some outstanding coaches to work with,” added Cowley.

“We went to Shrub End last Thursday and watched all of the younger teams train.

“They had tens, 11s and 12s all training together, with the more physically mature tens against the less physically mature 11s and 12s combined, so they create this balanced competition, which I think is such a good idea.

“Young people develop at different stages through adolescence and sometimes, it can be a real mis-match.

“You could have the 14-year-old who is almost the man and also the 14 year who is still the young boy.

“It can be a real challenge for both actually, because the 14-year-old who has the physical attributes could be almost relying on them, which can hinder their development, whereas the 14-year-old as the late developer are almost playing against men and almost don’t get to be able to stay on the ball very long because they have to move so quickly as otherwise they’re going to get run over and that can slow their development.

“I thought that was a great idea.”