Posh star Etherington is giving plenty back to the club that gave him his chance in professional football

Matthew Etherington and Simon Davies, who both went on to play in the Premier League after representing Posh as teenagers, have steered the club’s youth team to back-to-back league titles as well as developing many players well enough for them to earn professional contracts.

A dramatic come-from-behind 2-1 win over Southend yesterday (February 13) secured the South East Division Youth Alliance League title for the second year in succession to the delight of Academy director Kieran Scarff.

“Full credit to Matthew and Simon for the standard of coaching they provide and for the level of support they give the boys,” Scarff said. “It’s been a real team effort, but Matthew and Simon deserve all the recognition they will get.

“Sometimes ‘winning’ can be like a swear word when talking about the development of young players, but to me it’s so important. It breeds confidence and helps create the environment we want to work in.

“We won’t sacrifice our principles to win games, but the two can go hand-in-hand.”

Etherington preferred to pass the credit on to his players after they showed great character to score twice in the final 13 minutes through skipper Charlie O’Connell and highly-regarded forward Adler Nascimento after Southend had taken a lead into the interval.

Etherington said: “We were initially a bit nervous against Southend, but we again showed the togetherness, resilience and the ability that we have shown all season to get the win.

“This is a great club to work for as the structure is so good. There is a path to the first-team for the young players and there is a manager there who will give them a chance if he thinks they are good enough.

“I said when I came here I wanted to give something back to the club that gave me my chance to play professional football and producing players for the first-team squad is my main aim.

“That’s been going well lately, but we also set out to win league titles and cups.”

Posh have a Youth Alliance League Cup semi-final tie next month and they are in the third round of the FA Youth Cup when they were drawn at home to Doncaster before the competition was suspended.

Posh currently have 11 players on pro deals who travelled through the club’s Academy. Decisions on other possible graduates are still to be made.