By Mo Khan

These days, the words ‘Arsenal Football Club’ and ‘entertainment’ go hand in hand, and as the 2005/06 Reserve League South campaign illustrated, it’s a trait extended to their second string.

The Gunners were the division’s top scorers - amassing 60 goals at an average of 2.3 goals per game. And having led the table for long periods, they ended their season in third place with 14 wins from 26 fixtures, 12 points adrift of eventual winners, Tottenham.

However, as their manager Neil Banfield stresses, at this level, "performance is more important than points". In other words, the team’s education will inevitably encounter defeat as well as victory and the players are better off for both experiences.

Some teams opt to use the Reserve League mainly as a stage for their first-team fringe players. Arsenal prefer to blood their academy players — some as young as 15 — and use a core of reserve players who have little or no first-team experience.

First-team stars returning from injury such as Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell and Robin van Persie are exceptions to that rule. All appeared for Banfield’s outfit last term but made a combined total of seven appearances between them. Indeed, one of those, Cole against Spurs at Underhill, lasted all of seven minutes.

Generally though, the spine of Banfield’s side consisted of 18-year-old central defender, Matthew Connolly (20 starts), defensive midfielder Fabrice Muamba (20) and striker Nicklas Bendtner (22). Other reserve-team regulars included Kerrea Gilbert (15), Sebastian Larsson (15), Arturo Lupoli (15) and Anthony Stokes (18).

Several Arsenal Under-18 stars also made the step up to reserve-team football with distinction last season. Winger Jay Simpson, 17, netted six times from just eight starts.

Right-sided midfielder Giorgos Efrem, 16, showcased his versatility by producing a man-of-the-match performance at left-back against Watford at Underhill. The Cypriot youth international scored twice from seven starts.

Paul Rodgers, 15, was another debutant at this level and excelled at right back, producing a string of energetic displays that defied his tender years.

The top goalscorer mantle was predictably a two-horse race between Lupoli and Bendtner and the former looked like claiming the bragging rights having scored 17 times from just 15 games by the end of February.

But a foot injury ruled the Italian out of the remainder of the campaign and Bendtner edged ahead of his team-mate at the death, with a brace at West Ham — taking his end-of-season tally to 18 goals in 22 starts.
Reserves' top appearance-makers in 2005/06

Name
                        Reserves appearances    Reserves goals
Nicklas Bendtner        24      18
Fabrice Muamba  23      1
Anthony Stokes  22      3
Matthew Connolly        21      -
Arturo Lupoli   15      17

Reserves' best new-comers* in 2005/06
Name      Reserves appearances    Reserves goals
Jay Simpson     12      6
Giorgos Efrem   9       2
Paul Rodgers    9       -
Marc Elston     8       1
Vito Mannone (GK)       7       0

* NB: this refers to players who may have made an appearance in the
reserve team in 2004/05, but are still considered academy players.