Dan Ola

U18 | Fleetwood Town 1-3 Cardiff City

Academy
Cardiff City's U18s side began their PDL campaign with an impressive 3-1 victory over Fleetwood Town.
Tom Hutton
Reaction | Tom Hutton

After the full-time whistle, U18 head coach Tom Hutton reflected on a positive showing.

"Overall, we are really pleased with the performance today. It’s always nice to start the season with three points, but just as important to us was that the lads were able to deliver a positive performance scoring three goals away from home.

"It’s only the first game of the season, but already we can see signs of development and improvement from where we were at the beginning of season, so that’s really pleasing as well."

Jake Davies
Match Summary

The young Bluebirds opened the league campaign in perfect fashion, with striker Dan Ola giving Tom Hutton's side a first half lead. 

City continued a fine away performance in the second half to claim all three points.

The goals in the second period came from Mannie Barton and Jake Davies, who both got on the scoresheet on the opening day.

Next up for our U18s is a clash against Birmingham City at Cardiff International Sports Campus on Saturday, August 17th. 

Team News

Here is how the Bluebirds line-up for our PDL season opener:

Cardiff City: Jones, N. Williams, Debono, Edwards, Thomas (C), C. Williams, Rees, Davies, Talbot, Barton, Ola. 

Substitutes: Walsh, Higgs, Watts, Allmark, Phelan.

Tom Hutton
Pre-match | Tom Hutton

Ahead of the season opener, we caught up with U18 head coach Hutton: "Preparation has gone really well. It's given our first years a real taste of what being a scholar is like, the commitment that it is and the challenges that it brings. Second of all, it has allowed us to prepare the boys for how we want them to play on the pitch. We've had a really varied games programme in pre-season, which has really enriched their preparation for the campaign.

"We want to try and perform as well as we can in every game and get a positive result at the end of it, but this is a development journey for the boys and we know that we are a young group, so the challenges that they are going to face, particularly in the league, are yet to come. We have a lot of U18s playing at U21 level and that's the way we want to do things. 

Joseff Edwards
Pre-Match | Joseff Edwards

Defender Joseff Edwards, who will be looking to build on a positive 2023/24 campaign, added: "We can't wait to get back to competitive games. After last year's performances, we have high expectations and we're going to see how many points we can get and how far up the table we can get. 

"It has been a positive pre-season for us. There have been plenty of minutes for the boys and we've played a lot of games, so for the first years coming in, they've adapted to it really well. We've built a really good togetherness and positivity around the academy. We want to continue that throughout the season."

Ticket information

Entry for this Saturday's match at Poolfoot Farm will be free for all supporters.

Reaching THE GROUND

Supporters planning on attending on Saturday morning should use the following address:

Poolfoot Farm, Butts Rd, Thornton-Cleveleys FY5 4HX

The nearest light rail station to Poolfoot Farm in Cleveleys is West Drive (Blackpool Tramway), which is a 10-minute walk away.

Poolfoot Farm has a main car park of 120 space accessed by the main entrance and an over flow 40 space accessed by the rear for visitors attending the complex and with further parking for vehicles sensibly utilise the abundant of ‘on-street’ parking in the area.