Crawley Town Foundation Academy players join first team for training

Ryan Soro Thomas, Ilias Al Meskin, Josh Clay and Saf Ahmed were all invited to play with the team at the club’s Horsham facilities.

Education Academy head coach Rob Semark said: “Since the new ownership group have been at the club, there has been significant interest in our programme.

"The players chosen to train with the team were position specific.

“We had a conversation with Scott Lindsey to see where they needed covering ahead of the game with Leyton Orient.

"The lads were great in the session, and it was good to see that they didn’t look out of place on the training pitch.

"The boys have been given a real insight into the first-team set-up, and I hope it has also given them confidence to take forward.”

Josh Clay has been with the Foundation for the past few years and had started out attending the Elite and Development programme.

The centre’s coordinator, Jacob Magnus, spoke about Josh as his former coach.

He said: “It has been amazing to see our former Elite player Josh take the next steps in his career.

"I first met Josh three years ago when working with our then under-15s and under-16 Elite squads.

"He was hard-working, competitive and a fantastic character in both training and match days.

“Josh has a passion to develop and was always a pleasure to coach.

"He was eager to listen, asked a lot of questions, was committed to learning and gave his best effort to everything he did with Crawley.

"Thanks to a balance of talent and hard work he has been able to push himself to the next step and all of us are very proud of his achievements and look forward to supporting him further.”

The Academy team itself dropped out of the Sussex FA County Schools Cup last week, losing 3-1 to Worthing College in extra-time after Josh Barlow cancelled out Margeson’s early strike, before goals from Hack and Panev took the visitors into the semi-finals of the competition.

The Crawley Town Flyers pan-disability football teams have been in action in recent weeks, too, with the Division One’s ‘Green’ team winning all three of their last three fixtures and sit second in the league table.

They take on Wick Dynamos, East Grinstead Seaford Town, Worthing FC over the next month.

The Foundation is expanding and is looking for another community development coach to join the team at the Broadfield Stadium.

An FA Level 1 qualification is required alongside a full, clean driving licence to deliver sessions around the Crawley area.

The Foundation runs community-based social events, dementia-friendly as well as mental health social groups with football and sports sessions in various locations.

If you would like to get in touch and apply for a position at the Foundation then please visit www.ctcommunityfoundation.com/vacancies to download a candidate application pack.

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