Away Defeat for City U13's

City travelled to Stoke and came away with nothing after a poor performance and missing a host of chances

Q1
With the game being played on a very big 3g pitch both teams started slowly with the majority of play contained to the midfield. City had an early chance when Kyle Clayton and Jake Brookes combined down the left to put Ash Doyle in on goal but his effort just went wide. The home side attempted to make the pitch big by playing wide at every opportunity but City pressed well and cut off the passing lines to deny this. The home side should have opened the scoring in the 10th minute after a missed placed back pass was intercepted by their striker who rounded the stranded Zac Watkins in goal but a great last ditch tackle by Josh sanders rescued the situation. The remainder of the quarter saw City struggle with their passing and link ups as it ended 0-0

Q2
Although city started the second quarter the stronger pressing as a team Stoke took control of the game with 3 goals in 10 minutes. The first came in the 25th minute after City conceded a needless free kick after winning the ball back on the edge of their penalty area. The city defence failed to deal with a simple ball over the top and the home striker found himself in space and easily slotted the ball home. Stoke should have doubled their lead two minutes later when the visitors once again gave the ball away but the striker fired over from close range. Watkins tipped another effort over the bar but from the resulting corner Stoke scored their second with a simple tap in on the line as the corner was totally unchallenged by the visitors. In the 35th minute Stoke scored their 3rd with another long ball over the top of the city defence which resulted in their striker beating the stranded Watkins
The quarter finished with a chance for the visitors to pull one back but Doyle's shot was blocked by the home defence.

Q3
The midfield of Brookes, Clayton, Adam Willis and Henry Guy started the 3rd quarter stronger and although they were linking well and winning their battles once again the quality on the final ball was lacking. Jay Bennet was controlling the space in front of the back four well breaking up Stokes attacks but the chances were just not falling. In the 50th minute the home side scored their 4th when once again a ball behind the back four of Joe Layland, Josh Francis, Sanders and Chester Hooper caught them on the back foot and the striker beat the unfortunate Louis Hudson who had no chance in the visitors goal. As the quarter was coming to an end City had two further scoring chances before completely missing an open goal as it was proving to be one of those days in front of goal

Q4
City to their credit continued to search for a way back and after some neat work down the left flank Fin Mcglen delivered a superb cross which Doyle met with his head but the effort just skimmed the top of the Bar. Hayden Russel was pushing hard up top and came close with an effort before Doyle was brought down in the penalty area in the 65th minute. He dusted himself off and slotted home to give City hope. Unfortunately from this point the game got scrappy and both sides had players sin binned for needless reasons and Stoke completed the scoring in the 70th minute with a long range free kick into the top corner.
Stoke deserved the victory and the points as they were more clinical in front of goal and took their chances as they ran out 5-1 victors.