City U18s share spoils in eight-goal thriller with Stoke

After a tense opening 26 minutes for a rotated City side, centre-back Yohann Obin got the Blues off the mark, tapping home the rebound after his initial header from a corner was saved.

The goal helped everything click into place for the young Blues, with Teddie Lamb quickly doubling our lead with a first-time finish just after the half hour mark.

Just before the break, a high press from Stoke allowed Jerome Kyremeh to halve the deficit and left it all to play for in the second half. 

Stoke’s Ryan Liu struck first to draw Stoke level four minutes into the second half.  

Lamb restored City’s lead from the penalty spot before two quick goals for Stoke, from Tristan Achu and Pedro Nzau, put the Potters ahead with just under 15 left to play.

Our young Blues continued to fight, with our hard work rewarded on 86 minutes when substitutes Jake Wain and Kylan Midwood linked up with the latter tapping home to see the end-to-end match finish 4-4 and extend City’s unbeaten run to 10 in all competitions. 

WHAT HAPPENED

For the final time in 2025/26, the City Football Academy played host to our last league home game on a dull Tuesday afternoon as top of the table took on the lowest-placed outfit, Stoke.

Reiss fielded a heavily rotated squad, with nine changes from Saturday’s title-winning starting line-up meaning only skipper Harrison Miles and Charlie Courtman retained their places.

But it was clear the entire team were keen to impress, playing with pace and purpose from kick-off and unfortunate not to carve out more opportunities before Yohann Obin gave City the lead with his first-ever U18s goal.

A well-worked corner routine on 26 minutes saw Miles whip a dangerous ball into the box, with Obin completely unmarked to rise highest to head the ball goal bound.

Stoke’s shot stopper Lucas Knight did well to save the initial effort but Obin was quickest to the rebound, tapping home from inside the six-yard box.

Teddie Lamb quickly made it two five minutes later, and we would see him extend his lead as the league’s top goal scorer with 23 with a second goal later on.

On his first start, Milo Martin played a perfectly weighted pass into the path of City’s number nine, allowing him to dispatch a clinical first-time finish.

To City’s frustration, with five minutes left to play from the opening 45, Jerome Kyremeh converted a low shot into the bottom-left corner after Reiss’ side were caught out by an aggressive, high press.

Stoke carried their momentum into the second half, with Ryan Liu firing home from close range on 49 minutes after City failed to clear the danger.

Just like our last league outing against the Potters, which ended 3-2 in favour of City, the game was once again a close affair.

Lamb restored City’s lead after he won a penalty on 59 minutes and fired the spot kick home four minutes later.

But, as momentum continued to shift from one team to the other, Tristan Achu once again levelled the playing field after the centre-back nudged the ball under City goalkeeper Finley Grigg after we struggled to deal with the Stoke corner on 73 minutes.

Three minutes later Stoke had another corner and Pedro Nzau’s inswinger snuck through a sea of bodies and into the back of the City net to give the visitors the lead for the first time.

The title winners showed great attitude and got a deserved fourth through substitute Kylan Midwood, who tapped home Jake Wain’s cross for his eighth goal in five games with four minutes left to play.

City looked the most likely to find a winner at the death, but resolute defending from Stoke saw two City chances blocked before the full-time whistle rang around the CFA to call time on a mesmerising match-up. 

HOW WE LINED UP

CITY XI | Grigg, Courtman, Obin, Lawrie, Tevenan, Miles (Gorman 73’), Wadsworth (Wain 84’), Holt, Lamb (Midwood 73’), Martin, Whisker.

SUBS | Vickery, T. Samba.

STOKE XI | Knight, Phillips, Thompson, Achu (Eyaife 82’), Frost, Enabulele, Fearn, Liu, Kyremeh (Ogbebor 62’), Midwood (Nixon 46’), Nzau.

SUBS | Chivers, Bardsley.  

AS A RESULT

City sit top of the Under-18 Premier League North table with 60 points and one game left to play.

UP NEXT

City’s final Under-18 Premier League North game of 2025/26 will see Reiss’ side travel to Merseyside on Saturday 9 May.

We take on Everton at 11:00 (UK), with the game available to watch live on mancity.com and the Official Man City App for fans with a CITY+ subscription.