U18 Match Report | Cardiff City 2-0 Bristol City
Cardiff City’s U18 side continued their winning run with victory over Bristol City in the Professional Development League on Saturday, November 26th.
Gabriele Biancheri’s brace secured the three points in the Severnside derby to keep the Bluebirds on top of the South group.
The visitors missed a great chance early on. Ollie Thomas couldn’t keep his one-on-one effort down inside two minutes following a deflected through ball falling in his path. City began to grow into the game quickly however. Positive play from Cole Fleming and Will Spiers down the right-hand side forced a corner in the early stages
After a quiet period in the first-half, the Bluebirds found a breakthrough. The dangerous Fleming found Biancheri with a low cross, with the forward coming across the front post to flick past the keeper with a good finish to make it 1-0 on 22 minutes.
Inside half an hour, Tanatswa Nyakuhwa missed a chance to double the lead after dummying a defender and shooting with his left, but he just dragged his shot wide.
On the brink of half-time, Fleming found himself involved again. This time an acrobatic attempt at goal ricocheting off the underside of the crossbar.
City grew into the second half steadily once again, despite withstanding some pressure from the Robins. The Bluebirds’ first chance of the half came on 71 minutes. Biancheri looked to double his tally, but sent a free header at the near post just wide.
In the last 20 minutes, City were looking to kill the game. Spiers on the edge of the box forced a good save from Mac Boyd.
After a disallowed goal eight minutes prior, Biancheri did make it 2-0 in the final 10 minutes when he finished off an inch-perfect through ball from substitute Troy Perrett. The visitors kept pressing in hope for a late comeback but the Bluebirds stood strong at the back to keep the clean sheet and earn a good victory.
U18 FINAL SCORE: CARDIFF CITY 2-0 BRISTOL CITY
Cardiff City: Dennis, Spiers, Keeping ©, Lewis, Lawlor, Barton, Fleming, Twose (Coomer 65’), Biancheri, T. Jones (Perrett 40’), Nyakuhwa. Subs not used: Phillips, Thomas, Giles.
Bristol City: Boyd, James, Ali, Meerholz, Knight-Lebel, Araoye (Hutton 62’), Campbell-Slowey, Rose, Yeboah (Hewlett 62’), Morrison (Churchley 62’), Thomas (Anderson 62’). Subs not used: Duncan.
Following the result, U18 head coach Steve Jenkins spoke about his team's display.
"I'm pleased with the result, but not so much with the second half performance," he began. "I thought first half, we played well, we controlled the game but second half was really difficult. We came under pressure and lacked a little bit of composure and didn’t stick to our principles. We looked nervy and edgy when it was 1-0 until we got the second, but that relaxed us a little bit.
"We pride ourselves on being good in possession but also out of possession. We don’t concede lots of goals and we’re hard to break down, although that wasn’t the case today as we were a little bit open and they played through us a few times. But, we defend as a team and we attack as a team. It’s pleasing we’ve got the win when we’ve not played to our potential so that’s always a good sign.
"We got a few players out. We had two U16s playing today. Troy Perrett came on and did really well and that’s really pleasing because we were really young today. They had a lot of big physical players too. It’s pleasing we’ve battled up against them and then managed to see it out."
