The U21s conjured up a fantastic 2-0 away win against Leeds in PL2 last Friday, rising to 14th in the table – three points clear of the last qualification place.

Not only was it a massive result from a league-standing perspective, but it was also instrumental from a rhythm aspect as they had been winless in 2024.

On Monday night, the U21s managed to back up the positive result at Leeds with another win – this time at The Walks where they beat King’s Lynn U23s 2-0 in the quarter-final of the Norfolk Senior Cup. 

A big positive from both games was the consecutive clean sheets, with keeper Ellis Craven performing to a good standard. Against Leeds in particular, he showed fantastic sharpness throughout the game, anticipating loose balls, clearing his lines, and relieving pressure from his defenders. 
Ellis has shown solidity in performing the fundamental aspects of goalkeeping over the last two games, has a unique profile and can be unorthodox, which adds benefits to the team. His main strength is his distribution, where he shows superb levels of bravery when playing out from the back, often attempting to play passes in difficult angles to open up huge gaps. 

Craven?s distribution opens up the risk versus reward debate but due to his confidence, he is always wanting to find those midfield-splitting passes. This was demonstrated perfectly against Middlesbrough recently when he made eight passes that unlocked the Boro base shape, with only on...