U23 Report: Birmingham City 3-1 Cardiff City
Cardiff City’s U23 side fell to a 3-1 loss against Birmingham City in their penultimate clash of the current campaign on Saturday, 6th April 2019.
Jarred Harvey named seven changes to the side which drew 0-0 away to Watford last time out. Stuart O’Keefe retained his place and captaincy along with Ryan Pryce, Henry Ochieng and Shamar Moore amongst the changes for the visitors.
The Blues commenced the first half the brighter of the two sides after applying early pressure on the Cardiff City defence, the the Bluebirds initially denied the hosts any shots on goal in the opening exchanges.
Despite the early pressure, the visitors responded with an opportunity to take the lead after 23 minutes. A promising counter involving Danny Williams saw a strike from inside the area blocked by the Blues’ backline.
Birmingham City took the lead against the run of play after 32 minutes. Striker Beryly Lubala headed home off the post to break the deadlock at the Autotech Stadium.
In the second half, the Blues achieved their second goal of the match to double the lead through Corey O’Keefe. The 20 year old midfielder fired home from range with 53 minutes played.
The score was 3-0 three minutes later, as Remeao Hutton clinically dispatched the ball past Warren Burwood to further the hosts' lead.
Stuart O'Keefe's late goal ensured that the home side didn't keep a clean sheet, but it was too late in play to begin a comeback against a strong Birmingham City outift, and the score thereafter remained unchanged.
Cardiff City will host Bolton Wanderers at Cardiff City Stadium for their final PDL2 South clash of 2018/19 on Monday, 15th April 2019 – 7pm kick-off.
U23 FINAL SCORE: BIRMINGHAM CITY 3-1 CARDIFF CITY
Birmingham City: Huuhtanen, Dacres-Cogley, Burke, Boyd-Munce, Bajrami, Redmond, Hutton, O’Keeffe, Lubala (Boachie 46’), Bailey, Hurst. Subs not used: McCoy, Siviter, Martin, McLean.
Cardiff City: Burwood, Wootton, Kirunda, Ochieng, Pryce, Bolger, Williams (Masrani 82’), O’Keefe, Moore, Mills (Mayembe 67’), Faniyan. Subs not used: N/A.
