Sam Tillen was pleased with the performance of his squad as their 2025/26 Youth Alliance North season commenced with a 3-0 win over Port Vale.
A brace from Josh Kennealey either side of a Dan Vanderpuye spot kick was enough to give the Imps all three points on opening day. Tillen was impressed with the relentlessness of his squad to sustain their quality all the way to the whistle.
He said: “We ended the game in a positive fashion. It was typified by some of the things we worked on through pre-season such as working hard for each other and the willingness to run.
“Orin Aldridge has been out for a long time and he was still chasing balls in behind in the 88th minute, and Josh Kennealey’s 70-yard run to get on the end of the cross epitomises what we want in our performances.”
Vanderpuye used his physicality to get behind the Port Vale backline throughout the game and Tillen spoke about how vital that role is for the remainder of the season.
He added: “When he plays like that he’s a real handful. I’m really pleased he got on the scoresheet because he thoroughly deserved a goal for his efforts.
"He’s really homed in this week and has been training to a very high level - he's going to have a big part to play for us this season.”
As well as the three points, the young Imps managed to keep a clean sheet rounding out a great start to the season.
Tillen added: “I was really pleased, it was nice to see how much the boys cared about the clean sheet.
"Once we made it 3-0 and Port Vale put more pressure on us we had to do some defending and it was great to see the likes of Leo Vout getting across and covering, it felt like the lads really wanted it.”