City U18s return to winning ways with hard-fought Liverpool victory

After back-to-back penalties in the space of two minutes, City’s Teddie Lamb saw his first spot kick saved before making amends the second time around to fire our Under-18s ahead inside the opening 15 minutes.

It felt like the next goal could go either way, with both keepers tested a handful of times.

But it was City who finally found the back of the net for a second time, with Dante Headley heading home Reigan Heskey’s cross just after the hour.

It boosted City’s confidence and we quickly found a third through substitute Xavier Parker who placed a well-hit effort into the bottom right corner from the edge of the Liverpool box.

The victory on the road is three vital points that keep City two points clear of Manchester United as we continue our fight to retain the Under-18 Premier League North title.

WHAT HAPPENED

Under the leadership of Oliver Reiss, City Under-18s have never gone three league games without a win.

And they made sure that wouldn’t become a reality on a mild Saturday morning in Merseyside.

City moved the ball with pace and purpose and it quickly saw our young boys in blue awarded a penalty after Headley was clipped by Alvin Ayman.

But, Lamb’s spot kick was saved by Liverpool shot stopper Kornel Misciur who went the right way, making the save at his bottom right corner.

Less than two minutes later Lamb was brought down in the box and the City number nine got a second chance from nine yards.

The 16-year-old showed great composure and maturity to right the wrong from before, giving City the lead on 15 minutes.

Max Hudson was called in to action on 19 minutes to deny Liverpool with their first clear-cut chance.

The City goalkeeper showed great reactions to deny Prince Cisse’s header from close range with a strong one-handed save.

Back out for the second half and it continued to be an end-to-end affair, but the Reds looked the brighter side, with the hosts determined to find a way back into the match.

But when City enjoyed a short spell of possession just before the 60-minute mark, Reiss’ side were clinical and found a deserved second.

With his final contribution of the afternoon, Heskey teed up Headley at the back post with a beautifully placed cross from the left on 61 minutes.

13 minutes later, X. Parker had instant impact from the bench, his turn and strike into the bottom-right corner from 18-yards out put City firmly in control.

Further chances for Karim Cassim, Timeo Whisker, Jake Wain, Finlay Gorman and Lamb were all blocked by various red shirts, or denied by Miscuir, with City unfortunate not to find a fourth, or more.

As the full-time whistle rang around Liverpool’s training ground, it confirmed our boys in blue returned to winning ways to stay top of the Under-18 Premier League North.

HOW WE LINED UP

LIVERPOOL XI | Misciur, O’Connor, Ayman, Cisse (Conde 86’), Clarke, Upton (Konde 83’), Forrester, Murray-Holme (Eden 46’), Lambie, Farkas, Yeguo (Hickman 83’)

SUBS | Hilditch.  

CITY XI | Hudson, Drake, Courtman, Barrett (Wain 79’), Tevenan, Miles, Headley (Cassim 79’), Gorman, Lamb, T. Samba (Whisker 75’) R. Heskey (X. Parker 62’)

SUBS | Grigg.  

AS A RESULT

City remain two points ahead of title rivals Manchester United, with City still to play one game in hand.

UP NEXT

Our attention now turns to the FA Youth Cup.

We welcome Everton to the Joie Stadium on Friday 13 March, with kick-off set for 19:00 (UK).

Tickets for our quarter-final clash are available here.

Fans residing in the UK will also be able to watch every moment live, via CITY+, on mancity.com and the Official Man City App.