Poyet insists second team is an opportunity not a punishment (From The Argus)

Poyet insists second team is an opportunity not a punishment

9:30am Wednesday 21st November 2012 in Albion By Andy Naylor

Will Hoskins scored a penalty in a friendly with Watford yesterday

GUS Poyet has told his Albion players not to treat second team matches as a punishment.

Peter Brezovan, Lewis Dunk, Marcos Painter and Inigo Calderon were all involved in last Saturday’s victory at Huddersfield for the depleted Seagulls after featuring in the new development league this season.

Calderon, a second-half substitute in Yorkshire, had another outing in a 1-1 friendly draw at Watford yesterday, alongside several other fringe players.

Poyet told The Argus: “We are open minded about players playing in the under-21s. Some people, like Dunky and Calde and Marcos, treat it naturally. Others see it as a punishment. It’s never a punishment.

“You never know what is going to happen, so play a few games in the second team because maybe you need to jump into a big game. That is the biggest opportunity the players have got here and when there is not a game we try to arrange a friendly. “The idea is to give people who are not playing 90 minutes. You cannot compare training with a game.

“Calde did very well for us at right-back when he jumped in earlier in the season. At 2-0 on Saturday he was thinking he is not going to play and then he has to go on at left-back in the worst part of the game for us, to defend and defend and battle, and he performed.”

Will Hoskins equalised with a second-half penalty against his old club at Watford’s London Colney training ground after Albion fell behind to a first half goal by Standard Liege loanee Geoffrey Mujangi Eia.

The Albion line-up also included Gary Dicker, Ryan Harley, Matt Sparrow, David and Stephen Dobbie.

Development squad keeper Grant Smith was between the posts, rather than risking Brezovan, as Tomasz Kuszczak (finger) and Casper Ankergren (thumb) are not scheduled to resume training until tomorrow.

Brentford and AFC Wimbledon were among the clubs represented by scouts, with both teams containing potential loan signings.

The loan window shuts at 5pm tomorrow. Barnsley have yet to renew their interest in Hoskins and Harley but Albion have received tentative inquiries regarding young strikers George Barker and Toby Agdestein, who were both on the bench at Watford.

Albion have sold out their allocation of 3,300 tickets for the trip to Charlton on December 8. Seats are still available for Bolton’s visit to The Amex on Saturday and next Tuesday’s home game against Bristol City.