Shakers Pen Pontins Victory

MCFC Reserves  0 – 1  BFC  Reserves

City could not find the back of the net against Bury on a wet Wednesday afternoon at Mini-COMS despite having the lion’s share of possession and playing some good approach play. The main reason is probably that they lacked that cutting edge up front and the midfield seemed reluctant to drive the ball forward at times.
This was the first time in a few matches however that they have not included any over 18 age group players in the outfield squad and they gave a good account for themselves. Indeed I have to mention young Ben Morris who plays at left back who has come on leaps and bounds in these last few months.
Although the referee at times seemed to be reluctant to give any fifty fifty decisions our way, City could have no complaints about the penalty awarded on the half hour mark when Chris Ramsey made a rash late challenge on the Bury forward when he was running away from goal.
Bury’s Nicky Adams gave Lawrence Matthewson no chance of saving the shot as he blasted it into the corner of the net.
City used all three of their substitutions to try to change things round, but although that did give them a bit better shape it was Bury who carved out the better opportunities.
City’s next Pontins league fixture is now Rochdale at home on the 13th December, another 2pm kick-off. The Blackpool away fixture that was scheduled for 6th December has now been re-arranged for 28th February.

City: Matthewson(GK), Ramsey, Morris, M Daly, McDonald(Capt)(Breen 69), McGivern, Tsiaklis(Kay 63), Clayton, I Daly, Weiss(Ball 63), McDermott.

Subs: Hartley(GK), Mee.

Away Cup Tie Date Fixed

The fixture is scheduled to be played at 7pm on Thursday 30th November at Millwall’s New Den ground.

Long Away Trip for FA Youth Cup

City will face Millwall away in the 3rd round of the FA Youth Cup to be played by the 16th December. It is a repeat of the February 2003 fixture where city triumphed 1-0 and were eventually defeated by Middlesbrough in the semi-finals. We shall have to wait and see whether Daniel Sturridge plays a full part in the early rounds or is left for the later rounds should City progress to those stages. I would personally play him from the start as himself and Ched Evans make a formidable strike partnership.

England Youth Friendly

England U19s  3 – 2 Switzerland U19s

Last night I made the short trip to Crewe’s Gresty Road, although its official title is now the Alexandra Stadium, to watc this friendly fixture; although with all the hard tackles flying about you could hardly call it friendly, but it all made for an exciting game to watch and certainly far more interesting than I’m a Celebrity….!
Clearly my main aim was to watch City’s two young stars, Michael Johnson and Kelvin Etuhu. Kelvin however did not feature in the 18 man squad.
Johnson seemed to be underused in the first half as all too often the centre halves thought they were more like centre forwards and charged up field or played long balls and in most cases lost possession far too cheaply. When Michael did get the ball he only gave it away once and his vision and quality shone out. The one criticism is that he maybe did not work as hard as he does playing for God’s own.
He was however instrumental in England gaining the victory through a late winner when he made a strong run down the left and the forward slipped him in and he sent a perfect cross to Everton youngster James Vaughan at the far post to score an easy header.
One player who did stand out was Switzerland’s number nine, he had a lot of pace, strength and power and scored a fine goal. But as I mentioned before I was not very impressed with the centre halves, especially the number five. I could not tell who the player was as the tannoy system was useless and there were thousands of screaming kids with their horns there last night. I am all for bringing young enthusiastic fans to these games when the local schools are given free tickets, but surely they make sure there are enough parents and teachers about to watch them as clearly there were large numbers there who were not interested in the game and just wanted to mess around with their mates whilst throwing things around in the crowd.
Crewe’s lack of stewarding certainly failed to help the matter also.

U18s Do What 1st Team Can't

MCFC U18s  4 – 0  WWFC U18s

Wolverhampton Wanderers were brushed aside in extremely blustery conditions by a comfortable margin that meant they stayed four points clear at the top of Group C as both Bolton and Blackburn winning; the latter beating arch rivals Manchester United 3-0, that’s two defeats in a row for them.
Goals from Ched Evans, returning from injury, Ben Mee and a debateable brace from Karl Moore as one looked like it was an attempted clearance by the defender and I’m not sure whether the ball was already over the line or not, his other goal was certainly his as he curled it around the keeper excellently, very similar to Ashley Grimes’ goal against Carlisle in the week.
Ched’s goal came from a left wing cross by Moore that the keeper managed to spill and there was Ched to slam it home right on the stroke of half time.
Almost immediately after the break City made it two when a corner dropped short of the keeper and Mee turned and finished at the near post.
City’s third was the debateable goal and the forth was Karl’s curling effort.
The four goals also means city have a goal difference of 16 from twelve games and currently sit on 26 points.

City: Mentel(GK),Vidal, Mee(McGivern), McDonald, Breen(Capt), Marshall, Clayton(McDermott), Kay(M Daly), Evans, Ball, Moore.

The U16s could not emulate their older team-mates and ended 0-0.

Pontins Third Win

MCFC Reserves  2 – 0  CUFC Reserves

Carlisle United gave City’s pontin’s side a good game as many of you will have seen on Inside MCFC but City’s better finishing by goals from Ian Daly and Ashley Grimes proved the difference between the two sides.
The Cumbrians like most Pontins sides had a few more senior players in their side, but this time City were fortunate that they failed to bring their scoring boots with them as they missed some real easy openings to score. Carlisle going down to ten men for the last twenty minutes probably helped City’s cause a lot also.
The first half was a real non-event as I failed to write anything in my notes worthy of a mention.
The second half proved much more interesting right from the start with young Christopher Ramsey being booked in the fourth minute.
Carlisle’s keeper pulled of a fine save to deny Grimes on the quarter hour mark, then seven minutes later an almost identical move led to Grimes’ breakaway into the box being halted when the keeper, Anthony Williams brought him down and he saw the red card.
Grimes saw his penalty well saved but Ian Daly was on hand to chest the ball and volley the ball of the ground and into the net.
Four minutes later Grimes was again involved in a breakaway but this time he rounded the defender and curled a great shot into the bottom corner of the net, an almost identical finish to the one at Widnes last week.
City’s next Pontin’s game is a week on Wednesday where Bury are the visitors with a 2pm kick off this time.

City: Matthewson(GK), Ramsey(Tsiaklis 76), Morris, M Daly, D’Laryea(Capt), Williamson, Laird, Williams, I Daly(Poole 81), Grimes, Weiss.

Subs: Hartley(GK), McGivern.

Att: 156

MotM: Grimes – 2 on the trot now – chased everything and despite the penalty miss, created it and scored another fine goal.

City Stay Top

Stoke City FC U18s  0 – 2  Manchester City FC U18s

City took a commanding lead of their Academy group as both Crewe and Manchester United slipped up to leave City at least four points clear of Blackburn, depending on their result.
Goals from David Ball, and Adam Clayton ensured all three points, and back to back wins after that good four nil victory over Liverpool before the Autumn break.
It was not the best of games today as the surface was pretty slippery as it is very open at Stoke’s Michelin ground and so there was probably some underlying frost under foot. City’s goals came from a strong run into the box by Clayton who cut the ball back for Ball to finish. It was a carbon copy of a similar move just fifteen minutes before but Stoke’s keeper Danzell Hamilton amazingly got a hand to that earlier effort.
Hamilton also brilliantly denied Clayton on two other occasions; once from the penalty spot and another with a top corner free kick. Clayton’s goal came from a free kick just on the edge of the D and he curled it well around the wall into the bottom corner of the net with two minutes to go at the end of the second half.
City face Wolves at home next Saturday.

City: Mentel(GK), Vidal, Mee, Breen(Capt.), McDonald, McGiven, Clayton(Weiss), Kay, Ball(I Daly), McDermott(M Daly).

Subs: Hartley(GK), Marshall.

No News on the U16s as they play at Keele University.

No Strikers Cost City(II)

City seemed to sit back a bit after scoring the goal and invited pressure from Everton who duly made that pressure count after just over ten minutes after City had scored when a cross came in from the right and it the ball was hammered towards goals three times without crossing the line but the ball came to Mark Hughes at the far post on the fourth occasion and he was able to head the ball home.
City continued to play decent football but with Marshall on the left and the central midfield lacking a little bite it invited Everton to continue to press for a winner and it was they that finished the game stronger with decent shots at Hart’s goal.
One good thing we saw out of the game was that Nedum Onuoha played the full ninety minutes and did look like he had lost some much needed weight as he seemed far more mobile than the last time he played back in August.
City do not play another premier reserve game till the 22nd November, but I am sure it will be a similar team that faces Manchester United at Hyde on Thursday 16th November in the Manchester Senior Cup.

City: Hart(GK), D’Laryea(Capt), Jordan, Onuoha, M Mills, Johnson, Clayton(Marshall 79), Laird, Grimes, Ireland, Moore.

Subs: Matthewson(GK), Mee, Williamson, Williams.

Att: 748

MotM: Grimes – scored a great goal and never stopped running for the full ninety.

No Strikers Cost City

EFC Reserves  1 – 1 MCFC Reserves

Reserves Part One
I am sure if Frankie Bunn had Danny Sturridge, Ishmael Miller, Kelvin Etuhu and even Ched Evans to select from we would have had a real chance at victory against Everton at Widnes last night as we did not have one single forward in the squad and it really showed as the final ball had good quality most of the time but there was not a striker to meet and connect with it.
Those of you that read my blog will be well aware that I am not Marc Laird’s biggest fan, well I know he has been out of the game for a little while with injuries but he really was poor last night and I think or hope the only reason he stayed on the pitch for the full ninety minutes was due to an Adam Clayton injury.
The lad tries very hard, but he just gets so many things wrong and he has not got the strength or pace to get out of his mistakes and now you could say that he is holding back the progress of Paul Marshall who at this stage has shown that he has a real future at the higher levels of football.
City did take the lead through a great curling shot from Ashley Grimes who if he improves his temperament has a good future in the game, the problem is that he is played up front, but that is not a natural position for him and so its slightly a square peg in a round hole.

Part Two I will post tomorrow.