The future of Devonshire Colts was on display when the club’s junior players embarked on a recent tour of England and Wales.

A combination of under-13 and under-11 players were part of the trip. Quinton Jones, the under-13 coach, who worked with his under-11 counterpart Nelson Bascome, believes that the players gained a lot from the tour.

“We took 18 players, 15 under-13 and three under-11,” Jones said.

“All in all it was a great experience for my players. The purpose of the trip was to expose them to football outside of Bermuda.

“I believe that they learn a lot from it and a lot about how to deal with the physical side of the game as all the teams we played were very physical and stronger than us.”

Looking at the three matches, Jones felt that the players fared well playing in unfamiliar territory.

“We played three games while on tour,” he said.

“First we played Spotted-By Football Academy at Belle Vue Stadium, which ended 4-0 to them. The team played well in extremely windy conditions, we created a few chances that we should have done better with, but I was very pleased with the performance.

“The second game we played was against The New Saints at Park Hall Stadium, which ended in a 3-1 defeat. We didn’t play out and I think we took them for granted.

“After we went up 1-0 we started to do things that we don’t normally do like holding onto the ball too long and too much dribbling, when we should have kept passing the ball around.

“In our last game we played Crosby United at Drummond Road, Liverpool, which we lost 2-1. This was probably our best performance of the tour.

“We were winning 1-0, but in the second [half] they scored a great goal to make it 1-1 and then got a player sent off with a straight red card. Playing with a man down, we conceded the winner.

“While away we also trained with the coaches from the Wales FA, Robbie Fowler Academy, Wrexham under-18 coach and Wigan Athletic coaches.”

Reflecting on what the players learnt, the coach pointed out ball handling as an issue the youngsters need to pay attention to.

“Players have to work on their technical ability on the ball,” he said.

“That stood out as all the players on the other teams were able to handle the ball with ease under pressure.

“We have to deal with the physical side of the game without getting frustrated and giving up when things don’t go your way.

“Players have to play simple. Too many times they complicated things by trying to do too much on the ball.”

Away from training and playing, the youngsters went on a tour of Anfield and Etihad Stadium, watched the women’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford and witnessed England face Japan in an international friendly at Wembley Stadium.

One of their last activities was watching the EFL Championship match between Stoke City and Sheffield Wednesday, played at Bet365 Stadium.