Cardiff City picked up a thrilling point in their latest PDL game, as they drew 4-4 at home to Hull City.
After going 2-0 down early on, Tanatswa Nyakuhwa’s brace and a Jake Davies header had the Bluebirds in front at the break. Hull City hit back 30 seconds into the second half, but Davies once again was on-hand to put City in front once more. But it wasn’t to be for the Bluebirds, as Hull found yet another equaliser five minutes from time.
U18 head coach Tom Hutton elected to make two changes from the side that defeated Charlton Athletic last time out. James Lester and Josh Beecher made way for Joseff Edwards and Jac Thomas.
The Bluebirds as they gave away a penalty in the opening five minutes, leading to the visitors taking the lead. City controlled possession well after the first goal and looked the side in control. The closest they came was when Davies put an inviting cross into the box, but no one in a blue shirt was able to convert. The Tigers then doubled their lead midway through the half thanks to a bullet header.
This is a City team that has shown great resilience over the season, and this game was no different, as they ended the first half in spectacular fashion. Firstly, Davies rose highest from an in-swinging free kick and glanced his header past the keeper. Minutes later, the scores were level, as Nyakuhwa poked home from a Thomas cross.
On the stroke of half time, the Bluebirds took the lead for the first time, as Davies was bundled over cynically in the area, leaving the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Up stepped captain Nyakuhwa, and he sent the keeper the wrong way, and Hutton’s side had the lead at the break.
At the start of the second half, the score was level once more. A Hull substitute was able to burst into space, before calmly slotting the ball out of Armstrong’s reach.
The game, while only being 50 minutes in, already had so many twists and turns, and it was about to take another, as the Bluebirds went ahead once more. Nyakuhwa managed to get to the byline, before cutting back to Davies in the box who found the top corner from close range.
With five minutes to go, Hull found another leveller, as they tucked the ball away into the corner. They could have had a fifth moments later, but Armstrong made a fine save to keep the scores level. Trey George went close for City in stoppage time, but was denied by a good save by the Hull keeper, meaning the points were shared come the full time whistle.
The young Bluebirds will next be in action on Saturday, as they travel away from home to take on Wigan Athletic.
FINAL SCORE: CARDIFF CITY U18 4-4 HULL CITY U18
Cardiff City: Armstrong, Kpakio, Debono, Edwards, Thomas, Watts, D. Barton, George, Phillips (M. Barton 71’), Nyakuhwa, Davies (Talbot 90’). Subs not used: Jones, Lester, Rees.
After the game, we spoke to manager Tom Hutton.
“The overriding feeling coming off the pitch was one of frustration. When you’re working with young players and in youth development, you do expect inconsistency, because you have to remember these players are not the finished article yet. I do think that the level of performance today was far too inconsistent across the 90 minutes. Sometimes you can expect inconsistency from week to week, day to day with the young players and how they perform, but overall, the performance was not consistent enough. Having said that, at times, the level of performance was really high. Some of the goals we scored were excellent, but other times, the level of performance was low and not where we expect it to be.
“From now until the end of the season, we want to continue to push the boys further and closer towards the U21s, which we’ve done really well across the whole season. We also want to try and improve on the way that we play, in terms of the game model, and be as close as we can be to that every single game. We’ve got around nine games left to play, seven of them this month, and we’re relishing the challenge of the boys playing a midweek and weekend schedule.”