U18s beaten by Derby for third league defeat of season

Marley Mintus’ deflected fourth minute strike put us on the back foot, before Israel Green doubled Derby’s advantage deep into the second half.

With City searching for a route back into the game, the hosts put it out of sight through Sean Corry before Teddie Lamb grabbed a consolation in stoppage time.

A difficult day was compounded shortly before the final whistle as Kylan Midwood was sent off.

Despite the result, we remain one point clear of Manchester United at the top of the regionalised table with two games in hand.

The game in 250 words

On a difficult pitch showing the effects of recent bad weather, City’s first chance came through an indirect free-kick in the box following a back pass.

Teddie Lamb’s effort was blocked by the crowd of bodies before Derby went up the other end and opened the scoring as Marley Mintus’ shot deflected off Finlay Gorman to wrongfoot Ben Vickery in our goal.

We dominated the ball from that moment, but Derby offered significant threat on the break.

As torrential rain arrived on the cusp of half-time, Kylan Midwood produced our best chance so far with a driving run into the box before rolling wide of the far post.

The hour mark came and went with City, who averaged four goals per game before today, pushing hard for an equaliser.

Tyrone Samba first had a shot of his own that was blocked before a tantalising chipped cross somehow evaded several City players rushing towards it.

Holding midfielder Harrison Miles then tried to take matters into his own hands, firing narrowly wide from 30 yards.

Instead, the next goal was scored by Derby, with striker Israel Green rising highest from a corner and powering a header beyond Vickery.

Derby ensured we’d suffer our third defeat of the season when Sean Corry forced the ball home after Vickery had denied Kieran Clarke.

Lamb did grab a late consolation for City, heading brilliantly into the corner deep into stoppage time.

We were then reduced to 10 men before the final whistle, with Kylan Midwood sent off for back-to-back bookings in quick succession.

Teams

CITY XI: Vickery, Drake (C), Courtman (Wain 65), Barrett, Tevenan, Miles, Midwood, Gorman (Holt 46), Lamb, Oliver, Samba

Subs: Grigg, Obin, Whisker

DERBY XI: O’Neill, Taylor, Hodges, Crolla-Dowe (C), Canoville, Gill (Blake 90), Corry (Lukic 90), Mintus, Green, Smith (Clarke 61), Griffiths (Ward 61)

Subs: Tye

What it means

Oliver Reiss’ side have 42 points from 17 outings.

With closest challengers Manchester United not in action today, we remain one point clear at the top of the U18 Premier League North table.

We also have two games in hand on our cross-city rivals, with seven left to play before the regional stage is complete.

		Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Form
1		Manchester City Man City	17	14	0	3	65	23	42	42
2		Manchester United Man United	19	13	2	4	47	16	31	41
3		Liverpool Liverpool	19	10	2	7	58	49	9	32

What’s next

It’s a quick turnaround for our young charges, who visit Leeds United in a 12:00 (UK) kick-off on Tuesday 3 March.

CITY+ subscribers can watch it live on mancity.com and our official app.

Our hosts are currently 11th in the U18 Premier League North table, with 19 points from their 16 games so far.

Next Fixture

All fixtures

Tue 03 Mar

Premier League U18

Leeds

12:00

GMT

Man City