Mark Jackson gave his thoughts to LUTV after seeing his side put in a battling display on Monday evening, as they were held to a 0-0 draw against Everton.

Both sides had chances to win this clash at the LNER Community Stadium in York, with Leeds United goalkeeper Dani Van Den Heuvel making some crucial saves throughout.

Speaking after the encounter, Jackson thought his young side put in a pleasing display.

He said: “I thought it was a pleasing point, it gives us a platform to try and build on in the new year.

“Results haven’t always gone our way this season, but I thought tonight we fully deserved at least a point.

“We had lots of possession and a lot of dominance in the game, I was positive with the boys after the game.

“It’s a good platform to build on with the clean sheet and a positive performance in terms of implementing our game plan.

“The lads want to win, so of course they’ll come in a bit dejected after not winning the game, but there is a lot of positives.”

The Under 23s head coach reflected on the year of 2021 as a whole, which saw his team gain promotion as champions and step up to a higher division along with many of the squad making their first team debuts.

“It’s been up and down this year,” Jackson expalined.

“We’ve had to take a few results on the chin, not getting three points, losing leads, dominating games and not getting what we’ve deserved.

“But, ultimately we’ve seen players progress individually, we’ve seen players get opportunities in the first team as well.

“Certainly in the new year we’re looking to maintain that development but hopefully we’ve learnt things from the first part of the season, and can now turn our performances into three points.”