A hat-trick from Al Hassan Toure secured a third straight win for Adelaide United Youth after consigning Adelaide City to a 3-2 loss at Oakden on Saturday night.
Toure starred for The Young Reds scoring twice before half-time with two clinical finishes to cancel out Nicholas Bucco’s well-taken opener.
Toure added his third with 10 minutes remaining to seemingly put the result beyond doubt.
However, City managed to halve the deficit with a stoppage-time penalty which was converted by Aladin Irabona.
The result lifts United into fifth spot with nine points ahead of its clash with Sturt Lions this weekend.
Adelaide United’s Head of Youth Football, Airton Andrioli, admitted he was more impressed with the gradual progress his side is making rather than the win itself.
“I’m sort of happier with the fact that the players are progressing and improving slowly,” Andrioli explained.
“As I’ve said many times I think this is a stage of learning. It’s a very important stage for players and as long as they understand that they’re in an environment where learning is the priority.
“From that point of view, we don’t tend to look at the opposition we play. Yes, we respect everybody, but the same goes for every game that we want to be able to put the players in a situation where they can learn as much as possible and continue to progress.
“That’s our main purpose and as far as that’s concerned, we started off okay and obviously missed a few opportunities from the games in the beginning which I think is quite normal and I’m quite happy with how things are progressing at the moment.”
Andrioli was delighted for Toure scoring a treble after coming down from the A-League squad.
He said he expects all the players, particularly those in the A-League set-up, to show why they belong there and always embrace the chance to learn and improve their skills.
“I said to the boys even before the game that everyone in that changeroom, they’re all very young and they’ve still probably got 10 or 15 years minimum ahead of them in football,” he said.
“What I want them to understand is that they need to make the most of every opportunity and the fact that they come down – Al Hassan scoring goals is good for his confidence – but the same goes for Mohamed (Toure) and some of the younger boys that have been fast tracked.
“I think we need to find a balance on that because those players get fast tracked based on the talent they have in that moment, but then they might miss out on some other very important things they need to learn about the game.
“For example, the structure, the moments of the game, when and how to do thing and where.
“And if they come down with that mentality in our environment, the youth environment, which is the environment of learning – I want them to understand it’s a learning environment where they can take the opportunities to get better – and then they can add that to the talent and individual skills they have I think that’s a good combination to have.
“So I think it was good for Al Hassan and good for every player. We expect them to work hard and give 100% and always having that open mind that they can improve.”
Adelaide United Youth Reserves Result:
Adelaide City Reserves 1-3 Adelaide United Youth Reserves
