Warhurst hat-trick helps City U18s beat Stoke

In under 10 minutes, Matty Warhurst had a brace after tucking away Farid Alfa-Ruprecht’s low cross and firing home a shot from an Ashton Muir chip.

Stoke had a lifeline five minutes later, when Ali Hayder tapped into an empty net after an error from Jack Wint.

However, Warhurst regained our two goal advantage in stoppage time, tapping the ball into the net after Ben Houston slipped it in front of him.

WHAT HAPPENED

After a two week Christmas break, Manchester City’s Academy outfit were back out on the grass in league action, as we welcomed Stoke City to the CFA.

Ben Wilkinson’s young side started brightly and took the lead inside five minutes.

Farid Alfa-Ruprecht took the ball out wide on the right, before he fired a low ball across the goal. Matty Warhurst reached the ball first and his close range effort found the back of the net.

The fast start continued as Jaden Heskey fizzed the ball out wide to Ashton Muir who played a neat, chipped cross which met the head of Warhurst. The striker brought out a brilliant, reaction save from Ben Houston in the young Potters’ goal.

A second looked to be in our future as Muir, with some sublime footwork on the outside of the box, played an audacious chip into Warhurst, whose attempt was straight at Houston, but the shot was too powerful as the striker picked up his second goal of the match.

Stoke pulled a goal back five minutes later, as Ali Hayder was able to tap into an open net, after a mistake from Jack Wint left the striker open to score.

The red and white shirts of Stoke City had their tails up as Lewis Walker took on a shot from range and produced a smart save from Jack Wint to deny the visitors an equaliser.

The energy and intensity in the match grew, with both teams throwing in tackles to get control of the contest.

Just before the first half concluded, the ball was swung in from the left and Houston was unable to gather the ball. It fell to Warhurst who was on hand to tap the ball in from a few inches out to secure his hat-trick.

City raced out of the traps in the second half and were in search of a fourth, as Alfa-Ruprecht dribbled his way into the box before narrowly dragging his shot wide of the mark.

With the hosts’ preserving our strong advantage, both teams were cancelling each other out as the ball was stuck in the centre of midfield.

In a bid to pull themselves back in the game, Stoke pushed forward and Sydney Angina saw his venomous effort deflected just wide of Wint’s goal.

That proved to be the Potters’ final clear-cut chance as Wilkinson’s side professionally saw out the victory to collect three points.

HOW WE LINED UP

Jack Wint returned between the posts for this match, with a back four of Ezra Carrington, Kian Noble, Stephen Mfuni and Seb Naylor protecting him.

Charlie Gray shielded the defence, with Dan Batty and Jaden Heskey pushing further forward in a midfield trio.

Matty Warhurst started up top, and had Farid Alfa-Ruprecht and Ashton Muir in the wide areas for support.

Manchester City Under-18s

XI | Wint, Carrington, Noble, Mfuni, Naylor, Gray (Fapetu 86’), Alfa-Ruprecht (Nfonkeu 79’), Heskey (C) (Mukasa 79’), Warhurst (Dunbar-McDonald 79’) Batty, Muir.

Unused substitutes: Hudson.

Stoke City Under-18s

XI | Houston, Challinor (Watson 84’), Giani, Bickerton, Mears, Anderson (Phillips 78’) Maskall (Agina 68’), Smith (C), Adekoya, Walker (Rattray 68’), Hayder.

Unused substitutes: Brammer.

WHAT IT MEANS

Victory in today’s match saw us move up to second in the Under-18s Premier League on 22 points, which is eight points behind league leaders Manchester United.

WHAT’S NEXT

Ben Wilkinson’s side have a break from league action as we return to the FA Youth Cup. We travel down to east London to face West Ham United in the fourth round of the competition.

Kick-off is scheduled for Friday 12 January at 19:00 (UK).