In our final Under-18 Premier League North home game of 2025/26, a heavily rotated Blues side welcomed Stoke to the City Football Academy on Tuesday afternoon.
Reiss’ side took a deserved two-goal lead just after the half-hour mark through Yohann Obin and Teddie Lamb.
But a late first half goal from Jerome Kyremeh swung momentum in Stoke’s favour, which they also carried through to the second half when Ryan Liu drew the visitors level on 49 minutes.
Lamb restored City’s lead from the penalty spot for his 23rd of the campaign but Stoke quickly took the lead through goals from Tristan Achu and Pedro Nzau.
With less than five minutes left of the 90, substitutes Jake Wain and Kylan Midwood provided a moment of magic, with the latter tapping home Wain’s cross from the right to see City snatch a deserved point in a frantic end to the game.
“I think it was a draw at the end, [what] both teams deserved,” said Reiss at full-time.
“They [Stoke] did very well, pressed us high, were very brave and high intensity of the game in 90 minutes.
“I was not unhappy with our performance I think there were just two, three, four situations where we were not good enough, smart enough.
“But in total the performance was okay, challenging for the players.
“A few players on the pitch who haven’t played for such a long time and yeah all together I think it was okay.”
Watch Reiss’ post-match interview in full via the video above…
