ANTWERP PLAYERS COULD BE STARS

Last updated : 31 May 2006 By Ed
Antwerp coach Paul Bistiaux believes that the youngsters United loaned to the club this season have a great future ahead of them. Speaking to the MEN he said:

"Their development as players has been dramatic. Unfortunately we missed the promotion play-offs by one point but it has been a great experience."

"Lee Martin played 15 games for us. He was man of the match in about seven of them and did enough to win our player of the season award! Our fans adored him and they made up songs as tributes to him.

"Sylvan Ebanks-Blake did exceptionally well when he played, and scored some important goals for us. But unfortunately he was injured at one stage.

"Adam Eckersley is going to go far. He has been excellent at left-back. He has played in every game for us since he came over. He's very professional, very thorough and quick and clever on the pitch.

"Danny Simpson is very young but very promising. His development in Belgium has been dramatic. He arrived as a boy but left as a man.

"Sadly, Tom Heaton didn't get a decent chance for us. We were struggling with our goalkeepers in mid-season. They were all off form and so we brought Tom over.

"But our keepers' attitudes seemed to change once he arrived and they started playing really well."