KEVIN McDonald heaped praise on City’s hat-trick hero Tyler Smith and said: “I love it when he’s angry.”

Smith netted a first-half treble in last night’s 3-0 EFL Trophy win over Manchester City under-21s at Valley Parade.

McDonald, taking charge of his final game before handing over the caretaker reins to Mark Trueman, was delighted to see the former Hull striker come good.

“Tyler’s been frustrated because he’s had limited opportunities,” he said.

“But he went out there and did what everyone in that dressing room knows Ty can do. He stays on the backline, runs in behind and that’s where his goals come from.

“Ty offers something completely different and it’s a huge option for us to have.

“You never know, he might see more game time with a change of manager. But Ty has never complained, he always gets on with his work.

“He gets angry, which I love about him, he gets annoyed and frustrated.

“That’s an attitude you want to see in football. You want people to be annoyed when they’re not playing.

“But he never throws the dummy out the pram. He’s always at it every day and has a smile on his face.

“Ty’s a Sheff United fan so I think he was a fan of mine at one point – maybe not now!

“But he’s a good guy and a good footballer as well.”

City’s win means they are tied with Barnsley at the top of northern group F on six points with an identical goal difference.

They are already through to the knock-out stages before hosting the Tykes later this month.

McDonald added: “We came here to do a job. We got the win and we’re through to the next round.

“From a performance point of view, we were really good at times but we were also poor at others.

“But the main thing was to win and get lads on the pitch who haven’t played games and could show what they are all about for a new manager coming in and for themselves.

“Everyone applied themselves and it was a good night’s work.”

 

 

McDonald admitted there were periods of the game when their opponents were a joy to watch.

City struggled to get on the ball at times as the technical ability of the Man City youngsters shone through.

“I give credit to a Man City team who are fluent at playing football,” he said. “The timing of their movements and the way they pass the ball was good to watch and I’m sure people in our crowd thought the same.

“I told the lads there would be times when we would be pinned in because of the way they are structured to play.

“That’s built from the top. That’s a philosophy that goes through the whole football club who are the best in the world, in my eyes.

“They are one or two steps away from potentially being in a Man City first team.

“But we knew there would be space to play. We knew we’d be able to nick the ball in certain areas and that’s exactly what we did and where the goals came from.

“I would have liked to see us be a bit braver in possession. I think we can be, not just in one game but as a whole, because we’ve got good players here and that’s what frustrates me.”