Defender shows glimpses of potential for Linnets

Linnets boss Adam Lakeland believes Billy Jones will only get better as he continues his playing apprenticeship in the National League North.

The Fleetwood Town loanee gave the Linnets a more attacking dimension following his introduction off the bench in the 1-1 draw at Peterborough Sports on Saturday.

It didn’t quite lead to the Linnets picking up all three points on their travels, but fans saw glimpses of the youngster’s potential going forward in the second half.

“That’s just the the the kind of type of player that he is,” said Lakeland after the final whistle.

“He’s aggressive when he gets the ball, he’s got great pace and he backs himself.

“I think he’s probably got to learn that in senior football more experienced players will read what you try to do and he’s got to add a little bit of variety to his game.

“But that’s why he’s here, to learn and develop and I liked his positivity.

“As soon as he got the ball he wanted to go forward and I think naturally for for any player trying to go forward all the time, there’s going to be times where they lose the ball because you’re not going get by your opponent every time.

“If that was the case he wouldn’t be here, he would be playing a lot higher but I thought he came on and injected a little bit of pace down that side.

“He got us up the pitch a little bit and it was just his decision-making at times, not just by him but several individuals about when to stay on the ball and when to put it into the box.

“That needs to be better, but you know we’ll get better the more we keep working with them.”

Bartosz Cybulski’s penalty put Lynn ahead in Cambridgeshire before the visitors switched off at the back to allow Dion Sembie Ferris to equalise early in the second half.

Lynn’s boss was unhappy with the goal his side conceded but, at the same time, was pleased that his side brought back a share of the spoils after not being at their best.

“I’ve just said to the players, we’ve got to get to a point that when we go in front we win games and that’s probably my frustration today, because it’s poor goal,” said Lakeland.

“We shouldn’t be conceding goals like that with the centre halves we’ve got.

“We’ve got three of the best centre halves in the league, it’s right down the throat of us, and between the three of them, they’ve got to deal with that and they know that and that’s probably the most frustrating thing.

“Performance-wise, I’d say we had probably individuals a little bit off it today, I think that’s fair.

“But probably the pleasing thing is we still found the way to get a result and this is a very difficult place to come.

“Generally games here are very, very tight, closely contested. As I said to the lads, probably five, six weeks ago, it’s maybe a game that they lose. And to be fair they agreed with that.

I think we showed a bit of resilience in that first half when we weren’t at our best to come in at half-time leading.

“We needed to be better in the second-half with the ball and I felt we were and it’s just unfortunate that we’ve obviously made an error and it’s cost us the goal.

“But it’s still part of us building and improving and it’s another game unbeaten.”

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