A 45-yard wonder strike from Adam Morgan after 25 minutes and a counter-attack finished off by Cameron Branagan with 20 minutes to go did the damage at Hyde FC’s Ewen Fields.
With the wave of euphoria that has followed the first-team’s derby day heroics, 348 supporters took advantage of the low ticket prices and a rare balmy Hyde evening to cheer on Patrick Vieira’s men in their fifth league match of the season.
There were a couple of notable absences from the EDS squad for this encounter against the Merseysiders, including the club’s youngest senior goal-scorer Marcos Lopes who has made such a bright start to the season at this level.
Elsewhere, there was one other change from the team that drew 1-1 with West Ham last time out, with Adam Drury replacing in-form England youth international Greg Leigh at full-back.
With City facing a Capital One Cup tie against Wigan Athletic at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night, supporters are left to draw their own conclusions as to why the pair were missing from the squad!
Two players who were available for selection were Jordi Hiwula and Devante Cole, meaning they were able to resume their devastating partnership which has been a feature at the club up through the age-groups to this point.
The English pair lined up alongside scorer of the first-ever UEFA Youth League goal, Sinan Bytyqi, as the most advanced three in Vieira’s 4-3-3.
Liverpool got the better of City in the corresponding fixture last season and they could have gone ahead as early as the sixth minute in this clash when Morgan fired narrowly wide of the target when bearing down on goal.
Without their Portuguese talisman Lopes, City struggled to make an impression in the early exchanges of the game and ceded control of the ball to the visitors, who went close again after 16 minutes courtesy of a towering header from Stephen Sama which shaved the crossbar.
However, when the Liverpool goal came it wasn’t so much down to intense pressure but a moment of individual quality that City could do nothing about
...EDS match report..
Morgan picked up the ball just inside the City half, spotted Ian Lawlor off his line and unleashed an unstoppable strike which caught the inside of the crossbar before breaching the net.
Undeterred by this set-back after 25 minutes, City stuck to their footballing principles and tried to build-up from the back, with captain George Evans instrumental in lengthy periods of possession but the final pass was missing.
The away side’s eye-catching goal had illuminated what was a cagey, narrow, blusterous half but the Blues came out for the second period on the front foot and very nearly equalised through Hiwula who rose highest to a corner but his header was beaten away by Dan Ward in the Liverpool goal.
Another set piece a few minutes later almost gave City the breakthrough again but Evans’ side-footed volley was just too high to worry Ward.
It was a much-improved second half performance from the home side who began to play with purpose, fluidity and intelligence, however this Liverpool team was proving to be stubborn opposition
...EDS match report..
With 25 minutes remaining, Vieira opted to bring Albert Rusnak on from the bench but it was the team in red who found the game’s second goal against the run of play five minutes later, when Cameron Branagan slammed home Sama’s cut-back.
City had no answer to this and so went down to their third league defeat of the season, giving Liverpool what was probably just about a deserved victory.
They are next in action against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Youth League a week on Wednesday back at Hyde.
