MANAGER Liam O’Neill has talked up the crop of promising talent coming through Rugby Town’s Academy after lifting the Premier League VAR tournament.
The under-19 tournament, organised by the professional referees association PGMOL, pitted National League side Aldershot against Valley’s young guns, with Cally Stewart and Eli Mangwa netting for Rugby in a 2-0 win at St George’s Park.
Rugby went unbeaten in their three group games in the lead-up to the final.
Commenting on the club’s second title at the national football centre this year, O’Neill said: “It’s a great achievement for us to win there again.
“It was a huge effort for our boys, as they’d had a really heavy schedule over the previous seven days.
“The 120 minutes at Grimsby in the FA Youth Cup followed by another match the following Monday and then a National League Cup match the day before St. George’s was gruelling to say the least.
“The way the lads handled four 60-minute matches to win the trophy was fantastic – their fitness levels were shown to be superb.
“We have had several Football League clubs enquire over the last few days about some of our players, so I think it speaks volumes for what we are trying to achieve here at Butlin Road in terms of the development of our young local talent.”
