MANAGER Mark Benterman believes he is spoilt for choice in terms of players accelerating through the youth system at Halstead Town.

The Humbugs have already developed a welcome and deserved reputation as a club that nurtures and develops their best young talent.

And Benterman says there is another batch starting to knock on the door in terms of selection, in addition to the current wave who are already impressing.

Many of those young starlets played in Tuesday’s entertaining friendly at FC Clacton.

The match finished 0-0, before being abandoned due to fog after around 70 minutes. “There were only positives to come from it,” said Benterman.

“We had three first-teamers involved but the rest were from our reserves and under-18s.

“Alfie Carroll, especially, played at centre-half and was phenomenal, considering he’s only just turned 16.

“I was over the moon with him.

“We had other 16-year-olds in our team, too, and eight or nine of them were under-18.

“That’s without accounting for another crop who were back at Rosemary Lane playing an under-18s game against Hadleigh. That shows how strong we are.”