Grant Ferguson's programme notes for the Sky Bet League One game against Bolton:
Welcome back everyone and a warm welcome to everyone associated with Bolton Wanderers, a famous old club with a wonderful history who have ambitions to return to the Championship. That should make for a good game of football today and hopefully we can get that elusive win that we are all looking for.
The support recently has been excellent and we thank you for that. It makes a real difference. A crowd of over 10,000 here on Good Friday was a great effort, and with four home games remaining we are going to need your voices more than ever. We are realistic and I know that one win doesn’t solve our current challenges and, as they say, one swallow doesn’t make it summer. However, the past few weeks have provided some positives, and a win would certainly put a different perspective on many things.
Again, I applaud the hard work and determination that the players have shown in the last four games, while adapting to Liam’s approach and philosophy. Clearly we have become much harder to break down and it is evident what the team has been working on in training. It’s telling that we have kept two of our six clean sheets this season in the last three games. That’s a solid place to build from and now we have back-to-back home games and a chance to add goals to defensive solidity.
Everyone at the club knows what the immediate priorities are but our aspirations and plans remain intact, so it was nice to see Gatlin O’Donkor nominated for the Apprentice of the Year at the EFL awards. Well-deserved recognition, not just for his performances as the focal point for the youth team as they reached the quarter finals of the FA Youth Cup; or for the fact that he has made over 30 first team appearances already this season. It also recognises the way he has approached his studies with the LFE. All our scholars continue their education, and they do so with the same determination, discipline and intelligence that they show when they play.
Alongside Gatlin and Josh Johnson, who have both made the breakthrough into the first team, we have offered Fraser Barnsley, George Franklin, Erion Zabeli and Amari Davis-Stephenson a further year as scholars. To be in a position to make such offers to six players in the same year group is both unusual and gratifying, and underlines the work that everyone within the Academy is doing and the progress we are making as a football club. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the development of these young men.
The future looks very bright. Let’s make sure we add one big step to the previous four small ones this afternoon.
Grant
You can read the full programme online at www.matchdayfix.com/oufc