Max Porter's young Gunners left it late to claim their first three points of the Premier League 2 season, after Seb Ferdinand fired home to win 1-0 against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Mangata Developments Stadium on Friday, August 29.
The search for victory had continued into Gameweek three, while our undefeated opponents sat top of the PL2 table, but came unstuck against Max's organised and well-disciplined players.
“Brighton are an excellent opponent, so I'm delighted for the players. I think they've been putting in a lot of effort, and we've had some real tough lessons that we've had to learn from.
“I think slowly we're starting to apply those. I think we started brilliantly. We had a lot of control without maybe the threat that we need to add to the performance.
"Brighton were strong and we had to defend well, and probably had too many giveaways. We finished strongly, the game kind of opened up, and we had some more attacks. Fortunately, we ended up getting the goal and then we saw the game out.
"A real tough match, but a good game for us to come through with a win.”
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Max proudly watched on as his team pushed until the very end in search of a winner, and their efforts were rewarded when Charles Sagnoe Jnr found Ferdinand arriving at the back post in the 88th minute, to bag all the points and register a first win and clean sheet of the campaign.
The performance marked a clear improvement over previous games, and Max pinpointed that the energy levels made a difference in the affair. “I think the players and their attitudes are outstanding on a daily basis," he said. "Their intent for what they try to do is definitely there.
“We've just had moments of naivety and maybe more decision-making, meaning we've given up some more goals. We haven't shown consistently how we can play. I think tonight we eradicated those moments.
"We can still be much better in certain elements of the game. But I think the application and the attitude throughout enabled us to stay in the game in those tough spells for us to come through.”
A break in the fixture list means we won't see Max's under-21s play for three weeks, ahead of a busy back end of September schedule. However, the manager is pleased with international call-ups that take place in the meantime, as well as crucial time on the training ground. “Firstly, we've got the boys away with the internationals, so we wish them all the best. We hope they go away, and they have really good, successful international camps for their development.
"With us, we'll just continue developing the players daily. I think there's still a bit of a reset, but we'll definitely get going.”
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