THE Cheltenham Town youth team have started the season with one win and two defeats.

We played Hereford United first and came away with a convincing 4-1 victory after all the hard work of pre-season.

The lads made a good start and they did press us a bit before half-time and it was 1-1 at the break. In the second half our superior fitness and ability shone through. Dave Waters and Ethan Moore both scored twice.

Our second match was against Swindon Town away and we were beaten 1-0. They have won the league in the last couple of seasons, so it's always at tough place to go.

We started off giving them too much respect, expecting them to come at us, and they did. We didn't get into our game until the second half and I thought we did enough to have come away with something.

Then we played Exeter City last Saturday, and overall in terms of possession we probably had more than them, but we made individual mistakes and lost 3-1, Jamie Sauntson scoring our goal.

I changed the system to 3-5-2 just to help the players learn about different formations as part of their development.

We had people playing slightly out of position and youth football is all about learning as well as trying to make it through as a professional.

I believe you can gain knowledge from playing in different roles, so that is something I will be looking to do throughout the season.

We are only a few weeks into the new season, but decisions are being made on players all the time.

In football you are on trial every day, so with the second year scholars we will make our final decisions on them in February or March, but it's an ongoing thing and time ticks away quickly.

I keep warning the lads not to waste a second, because before you know it they will be facing decision time around a table with the manager wondering where their two years went.

I keep banging into them that they have to keep concentrating and playing at their best in every game because every match counts.

The first year professionals, who have stepped up from the youth team this season, have had a full pre-season with the senior squad, and now the games have started we want them to keep their fitness levels up.

We also want them to get a competitive edge, which you can't really get from friendly reserve games.

When they go out to loan clubs, as Josh Emery and Jake Lee have, it's real football, with three points at stake and it teaches them that side of it.

They are better off playing at first-team level than playing every couple of weeks at the training ground, so more players could be going out next week.

We play Bournemouth away in the League Cup today.