Chatham Town beat Coventry City under-21s on Tuesday night in what felt like a celebration of youth football at the Bauvill Stadium.
Chats’ former scholar Harvey Broad was back in town, playing for his new club after signing professionally for the Sky Blues and linking up with their development team.
As part of that deal, Coventry agreed to send their under-21s to Chatham and the hosts fielded a few more of their homegrown players on the night as they won 3-1.
Eighteen-year-olds Jonny Harris and Michael Paton both signed first-team contracts on the pitch at half-time before appearing for Chats in the second half. Fellow youngster Louis Belsham also got minutes late in the game.
Youth progression is a key aim for Chats boss Kevin Hake, with a thriving academy section operating at the club and Broad’s appearance for Coventry was a demonstration that they’re doing something right.
Hake said: “Youth is the lifeblood of this club, it always has been and always will be.
“We want to get the best local talent around and beyond and hopefully, we are showing we can do that and that we look after them.
“We do get clubs in the higher levels, Championship clubs, who are now looking.
“It was lovely to see Harvey here and speaking to the management team [at Coventry] he is doing well and he goes with our best wishes.
“It was nice to see two of our lads sign on in Jonny and Michael and we got them minutes on the pitch. We had a 15-year-old who made his debut on Saturday [against Tonbridge Angels] as well in Jesse Rowe and they didn’t look out of place.
“The likelihood is that Jonny and Michael will both go out on loan this year to gain
experience in men’s football but that is the approach we adopt and it has proven successful so far.
“While we can talk about the experience and the professionalism here that the likes of Stuart O’Keefe brings in, having youth in and around people as well keeps everyone on their toes and shows everyone at the club that this is what we are about and it sets an ethos.
“There has been a youth team player coming up from the ranks in every squad since I have been here and that will continue for as long as I am here.
“Hopefully Harvey Broad will act as a bit of a beacon to say that, ‘you know what, you can join an Isthmian Premier club and can then get a move to the Championship’.
“We are never going to guarantee someone is going to be a pro but we are going to make them the best player they can be and whether that be a SCEFL Premier player or a Premier League player, we will push them to the limits of their ability.
“Hopefully we make them better human beings as well because that is equally as important.
“They are not all going to go on and be a Harvey Broad and go and get a professional contract, but they will go out into the community hopefully learning about being respectful and contribute to society.”
Chatham were good value for their midweek win and they had to do it coming from behind after Coventry scored a 39th- minute opener. Prior to that, Hake’s men had plenty of opportunities to score with some wayward shots, a decent save and a clearance off the line.
Shortly after conceding Chats got back level before the break when Jamie Yila’s cross from the left was headed in by Rowan Liburd.
Bradley Sach made it 2-1 midway through the second half and then assisted Chatham’s third goal when he nodded Kofi Anokye-Boadi’s cross into O’Keefe’s path and he headed in to make it 3-1.
The game finished with Harris, Paton and Belsham all on the pitch. O’Keefe had replaced another former youth player, Kian Garlinge, at the break.
Hake said: “When you are playing against full-time boys it is always going to be a test of the fitness levels against them, but I think we matched them on the night and with a fair wind we probably could have got a few more.
“We have got a methodology of how we want to play and how we want to set up and we have the players to go and do that and hopefully the fans went away entertained.”
Next up for Chatham is a game against a Gills XI tomorrow (Friday) night.
Chatham beat Tonbridge Angels 3-1 on Saturday with goals from Sid Nelson – scoring on three minutes to cancel out the home side’s opener in a frantic start – Simon Cooper and Anokye-Boadi.
