Brian Barry-Murphy’s young charges produced an excellent all-round display at the Sands Venue Stadium in our Group E opener.
A brace of superb first half goals from Cole Palmer and Luke Bolton sent City 2-0 ahead at the break, and a solid second 45 minutes was capped by James McAtee‘s late third.
What happened
With a decent, noisy crowd present in North Lincolnshire, it was a testing environment for the City youngsters.
But Barry-Murphy’s side immediately warmed to their task, with our passing and moving impressing from kick-off and we made the ideal start thanks to a piece of sublime skill from Palmer.
Just three days on from making his Premier League debut against Norwich, Palmer showcased his wonderful talent again on seven minutes, drifting in from wide on the right before unleashing a stunning left foot shot into the top corner.
On 13 minutes City almost doubled our lead and it needed a superb save from Irons keeper Tom Collins to deny a sweetly struck James McAtee shot from a neatly worked corner.
It wasn’t all one-way traffic and a half volley from Mason O’Malley was only narrowly off target for the hosts before Fin Shrimpton’s drive warmed the hands of City keeper Cieran Slicker.
The League Two side then had the ball in the net on 20 minutes when Cameron Wilson forced the ball home from close range, but the effort was ruled out for offside by referee Andy Haines.
And City soon took full advantage as we doubled our lead on 26 minutes.
This time Palmer turned provider, the attacking midfielder threading a pinpoint inviting ball into the path of the on running Luke Bolton and the striker didn’t disappoint, drilling home a clinical 18-yard effort.
With City probing at every opportunity a deflected McAtee struck the bottom of the post from a narrow angle before Collins needed to be at full stretch to keep out a Palmer free-kick.
Scunthorpe sought to turn up the pressure after the break but City continued to press and push forward at every opportunity.
Palmer and Tai Sodje both came close to extending our advantage before McAtee then sealed the deal five minutes from time to wrap up a fine night’s work.
How we lined up
Cieran Slicker was in goal and shielded by a back three of Finley Burns, Luke Mbete and Josh Wilson-Esbrand. Romeo Lavia and skipper CJ Egan-Riley were holding midfielders with Cole Palmer and James McAtee also in the engine room.
Tai Sodje, Luke Bolton and Micah Hamilton formed our attacking trident.
CITY: Slicker, Burns , Egan-Riley, Mbete (Robinson 45), Wilson-Esbrand (Larios 60), Lavia, Sodje (Oduroh 71), Bolton, Palmer, McAtee, Hamilton
Subs: Van Sas, Charles, Lewis, Bobb
What it means
City get off to a positive, winning start in Group E. Our next Papa John’s assignment sees us travel to tackle Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday, September 21, kick-off 7pm.
What’s Next
City return to Premier League 2 action on Saturday when we travel to take on Manchester United in the first derby clash of the season.
Kick-off at Leigh Sports Village is at 2pm.
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