Match report for Cardiff City U18 vs Colchester United U18 on 21 Oct 17
On a wet and windy day at Cardiff International Sports Stadium, Cardiff City took the three points as they defeated a spirited Colchester United side 3-0, in the Under-18 Professional Development League Two South.
The Bluebirds made a strong start as they dominated possession, and eyed openings in the away side’s defence.
Their first opportunity came after 16 minutes, when Sam Parsons produced a low cross for Isaak Davies, who mishit his shot in front of goal. However, it arrived at the feet of Connor Davies who smashed the post with his first-time strike.
Jones was controlling things for Colchester as he took on the defence at every opportunity. Despite looking dangerous, on most occasions City were able to stop him due to his lack of support.
Cardiff sensed Jones’ danger and counteracted it after 43 minutes; Sion Spence produced a low cross from the left flank, across the face of goal for Connor Davies, who made no mistake in hammering the ball into the back of the net to give City a deserved 1-0 lead.
After the break, the Bluebirds crafted a brilliant attack, and were awarded a penalty when Spence went through on goal and was taken out by a strong George Phillips challenge.
The goalkeeper was shown a yellow card, while Spence received medical treatment. He recovered in time to take the penalty himself, and buried it into the bottom left corner of the net to make the score 2-0, after 51 minutes.
Eight minutes later, the Bluebirds extended their lead to 3-0 as Spence assisted Kieron Evans, who went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and poked the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
Colchester looked to gain a consolation goal as they attacked in waves and forced the Cardiff number one to make a number of strong saves. Then after 66 minutes, Noah Chilvers had a goal disallowed for offside.
Possession was mixed for the remainder of the game as City seemed to settle on their three-goal lead, and became resilient in defence. It worked out well as their clean sheet remained intact when the referee blew the full-time whistle.
Cardiff City: Ratcliffe, C. Davies, Sharif, Jones, Bodenham, Bowen (King 83’), Parsons, Patten, I. Davies, Spence (Proctor 72’), Evans (Smith 83’).
Subs Not Used: Burwood, Margetson.
Colchester United: Phillips, Keys, Stone, Howard, Madley, Routledge, Ager, Anderson (Cornish 78’), Jones (Hassanally 78’), Chilvers, Sims.
Subs Not Used: Michaels.
