Reply With QuoteTwo 3-1 defeats from two matches for the Under 23s who went down by that score at Barnsley this lunchtime. All of the scoring came in the first half after Shamar Moore had given City the lead with a first minute penalty.
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Bizarre events at Leckwith today as the Under 18s drew 2-2 with Crewe. With City 2-0 ahead well into the last ten minutes of the game, I did what I usually do when watching matches at the Athletics Stadium - that is, leave my seat and watch the rest of the game through the perimeter fence as I'm walking towards my car. For those who have not been in the stand at the stadium, you leave it by walking through the reception area so there are a few seconds during my walk when I cannot see the pitch. Today, those few seconds were extended a little by me looking at the television in the reception area to see what the score was in the Wales rugby game, but I couldn't have missed more than half a minute at the most.
When I could see the pitch again, I was surprised and disappointed to see City taking the ball to the corner flag to waste time when they were 2-0 up, but when, as I thought, Crewe got a goal back with a far post volley, the way all of the players and subs rushed to greet the scorer had me thinking "that's an equalising goal, they must have scored and the game restarted while I was in the reception area for those few seconds".
This was confirmed when I got home and saw the score on Twitter. If the first team had thrown away a 2-0 lead so deep into the game like that, I think there would have been a managerial rant to more than match the famous one in that You Tube video, but I would have thought things are more low key at this level - although the team should, in my opinion, be left in doubt as to how careless they had been in finding a way not to win from such a position.
In my blog piece on the Under 23s' loss to Sheffield United last Monday, I mentioned that they seemed to play in a way more in keeping with our first team than the one they normally employ which is akin to the playing out from the back style associated with City's youth sides. I wondered to myself if we may see something similar from the under 18s, but within a minute or so I knew the answer to my question - no! Within another minute, keeper Cogman had taken the first of several goal kicks to a colleague stood within the penalty area and there was no end of that passing within your own half that Neil Warnock does not want to see from the first team.
City played some really nice stuff at times with quick passing through the middle of the park, while there were moments of great individual skill from the likes of Rubin Colwell, Keiron Evans and Ryan Kavanagh, but Crewe stuck doggedly to their task with their goalkeeper making important saves when required and City soon became frustrated to the extent that for long periods in the second half it looked like both teams would have to settle for a record of two games, two goalless draws from their first couple of fixtures.
In saying that, the visitors did force Cogman into a couple of good saves, but going into the final quarter of an hour, it was hard to see where one goal, let alone four, would come from. As it was, the deadlock was broken when one of City's subs scored on the far post from a good cross by left back Sam Parsons and within two minutes Colwell had initiated a break which was carried on by Isaak Davies to free Ntazana Mayembe and the speed merchant, who was now playing down the middle after swapping positions with Davies, took the ball on to impressively beat the keeper and make it 2-0.
Davies, not as effective as usual, and Mayembe missed further chances as Crewe pushed forward, but they didn't seem important because I was still thinking City were home and hosed when, in truth, that mystery goal scored while I was in the reception area had put a completely different complexion on things!
Two 3-1 defeats from two matches for the Under 23s who went down by that score at Barnsley this lunchtime. All of the scoring came in the first half after Shamar Moore had given City the lead with a first minute penalty.
As mentioned elsewhere on the board, Sion Spence has joined Barry on loan, while Ryan Reynolds has completed a temporary transfer to Pen y Bont. Reynolds was playing for the Under 18s (still winless after a 2-2 draw with Wigan at Leckwith on Satutrday) while Spence is probably best out of the Under 23s based on their results this season - Friday's 4-1 defeat at Forest means it's three games and three defeats with ten goals conceded this season, with the three goals they've scored coming from a penalty and two set pieces as they've resorted to both full backs hurling in long throw ins from either side of the pitch.
Still no fixture list for the 23s on club website. I keep getting a splash about the club TV packages. 18s list is up though.Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
Thanks Jeff, at least that's something. This site is very good for coverage of under 18 and under 23 football and has a fixture list for our development side, but I'm not sure about our next scheduled match (Bolton H) going ahead under current circumstances.
http://youthhawk.co.uk/w/index.php/C...City_Under-23s
The Development team are at home to Bolton at Leckwith today, kick off 1 pm - just rang the club and got confirmation the match was going ahead.
I saw little of the game and only in dribs and drabs so this is a very unfair appraisal but from what I saw, if someone picked up the ball and said "shall we just knock this on the head" everyone would've voted to go home. Even Margetson's 2nd yellow looked like someone who wasn't that bothered about being out there. It'd be interesting to know who exactly in the world of football thinks the U23 league is a good idea. (My apologies if the game burst into life when I wasn't able to watch it).
Also, while I'm in the mood for unfair appraisals - Andy Legg, for all I know, might be a fantastic and knowledgeable teacher but he seems to me a standard, dour ex-pro; a monotone encyclopedia that's good for reference but not necessarily inspiration. Although perhaps he's just as pissed off as everyone else for having to be there. Anyway, there was another guy standing with him today - Sol Bamba? Is he getting involved in all this?
I've been wondering if Sol us being earmarked to take over from Warnock.
That report brought it all to life, I almost felt I was there.
City won 1-0, the goal was scored by Liam Soule, a striker who is on trial from West Brom. Not sure why they're releasing him, he apparently attracted interest from Borussia Dortmund last season while scoring in every round of the FA Youth Cup as West Brom reached the semis.
The team sheet for today's game had the name Liam Soul, not Liam Soule on it. I looked that name up on my phone at the game and there is a Liam Soul currently without a club having been released by MK Dons - he's. a winger like the player who scored today was and he looked a lot like the player in the photo I saw of him on the MK Dons website.
That makes a lot more sense, apologies for the misinformation. I was misled by this report from last week,
http://www.dai-sport.com/47947-2/
Youthhawk have him as Liam Soule too. Thanks for clearing that up.
Did you enjoy the game as much as Bluebirdman? Even more perhaps?
Dai Sport still running with Liam Soule from West Brom in this match report, even though his first name is Jamie.
http://www.dai-sport.com/teenage-str...birds-victory/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/footb...t-brom-sancho/
Dai Sport seem to have been confused by this article, which links to the Sun article above but calls him Liam.
https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/bo...rom-wonderkid/
I tend to believe we're looking at a lad who's been rejected by MK Dons and was playing for St Albans last season rather than pinching one from under the noses of Dortmund and Man City but maybe I'm just being cynical.
I did quite enjoy it actually, I thought a young team played well in patches and showed a lot of spirit to hang on for their win.
Here's my report on it as well as my thoughts on last night's Wales game.
http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/
Sounds like there were a few positives to take from that. It was a shame Bolger was injured at the time of the Luton cup game, I'm sure he would've got a run out of some sort then.
I saw that Dan Martin got the man of the match award for Weston at the weekend in a 3-0 win but they're playing at such a low level this season that it's hard to know what to make of it. My eldest knows a Barry fan and he's saying how good George Ratcliffe has been for them, not the first time I've heard that being said. Apparently there were a couple of flaps at crosses in pre-season but since the league season started he's been outstanding.
I noticed the other day that Sion Spence had gone to Barry on loan. I thought that he was one of great hopes for the future. Am i correct in thinking this and is the move to Barry a good one for him and us ? Perhaps those regulars at Academy and DVP games ( TOBW, Loramski etc.) might have a view ?
Good to hear bolgwr is playing well, it would be nice to bring one or two players into the first team squad this season, as it has been a while!
Time will tell on this one. I'm no expert on Spence, he certainly was being seen as a future star not long ago but I think injury problems have stalled his progress as much as the internal politics here. I saw him playing for the DVP side in January 2017, just turned 16. He came on at the start of the second half that game and we scored the 40 pass goal from the kick off. Him and James Waite ran central midfield by themselves, it was all possession based stuff back then, they made it look easy.
Spence moved forward in the following season and scored a lot of goals for the Academy. I know TOBW was very frustrated that he wasn't playing DVP stuff any more, this seemed to be down to a Bellamy led policy of keeping the Academy together although there was a poster on here who was suggesting that Spence had an injury problem that was holding him back.
An injury on international duty early last season led to a disrupted season for him, mainly at Academy level again. He scored some good goals but never really imposed himself. Even the games where he managed to get ninety minutes in he seemed to be cramping up by the end.
Personally, I'm happy to see any of our youngsters going out on loan rather than waste a season in the seemingly rudderless under-23 set up. Spence is still only 18, a run of first team games should be good experience for him and, if he can stay injury free, I'd like to think he'll be challenging for a first team squad place here next season. Unless Warnock stays on, of course.
While I agree that loaning youngsters out rather than having them stagnate, like so many others have done in the Under 23s, is a good idea in theory, it would be nice to see examples where playing first team football elsewhere has aided in the progress of a youngster into our senior side because without that, it's as broad as it's long as far as staying with the Development team or being loaned out goes - either way, you're not going to get into our first team.
As far as Sion Spence, and our other youngsters loaned to Welsh Premier League clubs, goes, I think a lot depends on what sort of standard that league is compared to the English pyramid structure. I'd say that we have a few in last season's title winning Academy side who are good enough to play whatever the Conference is called these days standard football. Judging by the little I see of the Welsh Premier League and the record of its clubs in Europe and that competition they play with Scottish and Irish clubs, my guess would be that standards are similar with the top clubs, but some way below that level with the majority of them.
Several of those loaned out this season, including Spence, are still young enough to play in the Academy team's league this season, but I feel they have moved on from that level now and so, I'd say playing first team football against men elsewhere is a preferable option, but, given what our Development team has become in recent years, playing for them when they return to City would be something of a downward step.
Glad to hear it wasn't as bad as I thought. Perhaps I was in a bad mood.
I'd say Joe Ralls benefited from his loan spell at Yeovil, Kadeem Harris and Rhys Healey only appeared for the first team after loan spells. We'll never know how Oshilaja and Ajayi would've progressed here if they'd been given a chance after successful loan spells, both Championship players now.
I'm clutching at straws there, I know, but I'd say that the chances are better after some time away from our increasingly futile under-23s. Saying that, if Bolger or Coxe can progress from there it would surely give a huge boost to the whole youth section, and some meaning to under-23 games.
An earlier than normal start for the Academy team today, their game with Leeds at Leckwith kicks off at 10.30.
https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news...s-leeds-united
And what an excellent game it was, City running out 3-1 winners. With a number of lads moving up from last year's set up, it's a new look, young team this. Apart from a brief spell in the first half when Leeds equalised and were then denied a lead by Jamie Cogman, City were on top and played some terrific football (not sure this will catch on here, by the way). Some good passing out from the back, patient build-ups mixed with quick counter-attacks, opening Leeds up through the middle and stretching them out wide too.
A very competitive game but we stood up to a strong Leeds side. The two centre-halves, Joshua Rippon and Taylor Jones (who were both playing under-15s last year) didn't give an inch and Tom Chiabi and Isaak Davies got themselves involved in a kerfuffle or two. Hard to pick a man of the match, Chiabi and Harry Pinchard dominated central midfield, Sam Parsons made a number of great runs up the left wing from full back, Kieron Evans and Davies were very sharp going forward. The last two scored a goal each, Siyabonga Ligendza got the first.
Some sympathy for Owen Pritchard who got given a hard time by Niklas Haugland and was taken off at half time. Haugland looks a real prospect and scored a great goal for Leeds, cutting in and burying his shot after bringing a cross field ball down in his stride. It showed the threat Leeds carried, all the more credit to City for the well deserved win.
I know this has been covered in the Etheridge thread but City under-23s won 3-2 at Sheffield Wednesday today. Vassell, Nelson and Madine all started as well as Etheridge. Coxe, Waite, Bolger and d'Almeida in there too so it was a strong team. A match report here, with line-up.
https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news...3-cardiff-city
A 3-2 win for the under-18s at Crystal Palace today having been 2-0 down early in the second half. Goals for Pinchard, Colwill and Mayembe.
A brief report here on how our young lads have been doing out on loan lately, including a link to Dan Griffiths' emphatic finish for Penybont on Saturday.
https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news...ademy-23092019
A good write-up on the Academy's win at the weekend too. A nice free-kick from Rubin Colwill among the highlights.
https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news...3-cardiff-city
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