United’s Under-21s – one of a handful of sides making their bow in the competition this term – won 2-1 at League Two outfit Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night.
The Railwaymen’s only prior defeat this term came against Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup, but they succumbed to Liam Smith’s early strike and Luke Charman’s close-range finish at Gresty Road.
More than 1,300 supporters – including almost 150 travelling Magpies – took in the clash, and Beardsley was delighted to see his side rise to the occasion.
“It’s a great experience for them – that’s why we’ve entered this year. As I’ve told a lot of people, we didn’t enter last year because the priority was the first team – for the first team to get promoted – and we’re all delighted by that, but I think we’re now on a more stable footing as a club,” he told nufc.co.uk.
“We have the option of more senior players at the moment. Last year, we lost a lot more than we have so far. We may still lose some of these, but we’ve had a great start, and tonight was a brilliant opportunity for them to play against men, in a lot of cases.
“As I said to their staff, who were really good – really fair, honest and genuine – it was a different type of game tonight. The next two (Oldham Athletic and Port Vale) might not be as accommodating, if you like. To be fair to Crewe, they tried to play football. They are unbeaten in the league but they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup, so – cup-wise – maybe it isn’t a priority. But, they had seven of their starting line-up from the weekend playing tonight, so overall, it’s a very good performance and a very good result.”
Beardsley also paid tribute to the effort put in by the Magpies’ backroom team, with two wide-men returning from injury and goalkeeper Nathan Harker forced to drop out at short notice.
“Carl (Nelson, physiotherapist) and Si (Tweddle, fitness coach) have got Callum Roberts and Victor Fernandez back up to speed – Cal got an hour, Victor got 45 – so everything worked perfectly in that sense,” he said. “Nathan dropped out midway through the warm-up, so Chris (Terpcou, goalkeeping coach) had to deal with that. There are a lot of other good people, too, and it’s great for everybody when you get a result.
“They’ve got a bit of a break now, and they’ll be very tired because they’ve had four away games in a row and a lot of travelling to do. But, the bigger picture is that they will be playing at St. James’ (against Norwich City) in a couple of weeks, and as I keep saying, that’s something money can’t buy.”
