FC Halifax Town: Youngsters should use County Cup clash as learning curve, says Fullarton

Phil Hughes and Steve Nichol took charge of the game, as they have for every County Cup clash this season, but were unable to prevent Town, who fielded a mixture of first-teamers such as Josh Staunton, Shaun Rowley, James Ferry, Ryan Sellers and Jacob Hanson, with some youth-team players, from crashing out.

“Such games have two advantages; you’re looking for players that haven’t played regularly in the first-team to get some game-time, which a few of them did.

“And then you’re looking at the young players from the academy to see if they can make the step up,” said Fullarton.

“It’s a great opportunity for them to play in senior football with our first-team squad players against a men’s team.

“That’s where the County Cup is fantastic because it gives you the chance to see where the young players are at, and answers a few questions that we as staff and the fans may have about involving youngsters in the first-team.”

When asked whether any of the club’s younger players had particularly impressed him, Fullarton said: “Anyone at the game will have seen that on the night they struggled and they showed they’re not ready to be involved in the first-team environment yet but hopefully they will take some good lessons from the game, which had an excellent atmosphere generated by the 600 fans who turned up on a cold wet Tuesday night. This sort of experience cannot be replicated at youth level.”