Home victory for City U13's

After a 4 week break City welcomed Solihull Academy to Perdiswell for this JPL U 13's clash.

Q1
From the first whistle it was evident that both sides were a little rusty from the recent break as the game started with missed placed passes and sloppy defending. Solihull were the first to settle and started to capitalise on the home sides sloppiness and they took a deserved lead in the 5th minute after some poor defending allowed the visiting striker an open path in on goal and he slotted past Louis Hudson. A few minutes later the visitors again benefited from a missed place city pass and should have doubled their lead but the striker fired wide from a great position. City were struggling to string any passes together and continued to give the ball away needlessly, their only effort on goal came from an Adam Willis long range shot which was hit straight at the keeper. Josh Francis at the heart of the city defence pulled off a couple of well timed last ditch tackles to deny further goal scoring opportunities but the visitors doubled their lead in the 17th minute after a miss hit goal kick fell straight to the Solihull forward and he gladly accepted the gift and fired home. The visitors squandered a couple more chances but were well worth their 2-0 lead as the quarter ended

Q2
City introduced a few changes at the start of the second quarter and immediately looked more comfortable on the ball as they settled and started to pass through the thirds. Ash Doyle introduction up top provided the visiting defenders some new problems with his pace but it was left back Chester Hooper who got his side back in the game with his and the teams first goal. Hooper picked the ball up and was strong through a couple of tackles and found himself just inside the box, a neat turn and timely lob to the far post proved to good for the visiting keeper. City were level in the 25th minute after some fine inter play and passing in the midfield by Kyle Clayton, Henry Guy, Adam willis and Fin Mcglen who's neat through ball found Doyle in on goal but a superbly timed tackle from the visitors centre half denied the shooting chance however with the ball bouncing in the box Hayden Russell reacted quickest tapping home from close range. City were now dominating and controlling the game and Francis, Josh sanders and Joe Layland were dealing with any forward attacks from the visitors. The home side took the lead in the 20th minute when they were awarded a free kick which was taken quickly and three neat passes from Jake Brookes, Guy and Willis found Clayton with the ball on the edge of the area, a superb turn gave him the space and he curled home a brilliant effort into the top right corner past the stranded keeper.

Q3
To their credit Solihull continued to battle and attempt to get back into the game with some good passing but they were continually denied by Jay Bennet who was breaking up any threat in the midfield before turning defence into attack. The home side were now looking comfortable and were playing out from the back producing some neat flowing football and scored their 4th in the 45th minute after the lively Doyle was brought down 25 yards out. Clayton took the resulting free kick and gave the keeper no chance with a sublimely struck effort into the top corner. The home side scored their finest goal in the 52nd minute with a move started by Zac Watkins in the city goal with a nest pass out to Mcglen who linked with Clayton and Willis and finally Henry Guy who produced a slide rule pass to Doyle who calmly beat the advancing keeper. Further long range efforts from Sanders and Bennet were comfortably saved by the visiting keeper.

Q4
The final quarter saw both sides continue to play some attractive football but neither could add to the score. Korey Peets-Fearon who was making his City debut was looking comfortable at the heart of the defence which was being well lead by the influential Josh Francis. Rafe Green and Doyle had efforts on goal but neither could add to the score line as the game ended in victory for the City boys.