City return to winning ways with five-goal thriller at Stoke | OneFootball

City's Under-18s fought hard in a thrilling 3-2 Under-18 Premier League North victory against Stoke City.

The young Blues went 2-0 up inside 12 minutes thanks to goals from the Samba brothers.

Tyrone opened the scoring after five minutes played, before Floyd doubled our advantage six minutes later.

The game was played at a high tempo, with both sides pushing each other. A further two goals before the break saw Stoke haul themselves level through Joshua McWilliams and Pedro Nzau.

But an early second-half goal from Kylan Midwood saw City restore our lead from a corner as Oliver Reiss' side returned to winning ways to stay top of the north league standings.

What Happened

Stoke lived up to the saying 'can you do it on a cold night is Stoke' on Saturday afternoon as we kicked off in chilly conditions at Clayton Wood.

And the hosts were straight into the action with a lively start as they snapped at the heels of City's defence.

But it wouldn't prove to knock City, as we soon found the net first, on the fifth minute, when Harrison Miles set up Tyrone Samba and the 17-year-old fired a composed shot into the bottom left corner.

City were thriving as we broke away from Stoke on the counter, with the Samba brothers linking up in the box before Floyd doubled our advantage on 11 minutes.

Ben Vickery pulled off a brilliant double save when Stoke's Thomas Midwood crept into the box, denying the Potters from close range on his league debut for City.

The biggest test came on the 26th minute as a looping ball in from a corner picked out McWilliams, who headed the ball past Vickery to halve the deficit.

The game appeared to calm down as we headed towards the half-time whistle until Nzau found an equaliser with a in added time and we were even at the break.

The second-half continued in the same high tempo and another City goal was recorded on 51 minutes.

It was Miles who whipped a corner in towards the back post. It initially looked as if the midfielder had scored directly from the set piece, but Midwood raced in to ensure a tap in and restore our lead.

For the next 30 minutes it was fairly even between the two sides, but as the clock ticked closer to the full-time whistle, it was City who came out on top.

Teams

Stoke XI | Knight, Powell, Collins, Eyaife, Mcwilliams, Harrison, Fearn (Nixon 64'), Liu, Mcnally, Midwood, Nzau (c)

Subs | Chivers, Kelly, Khan, Frost (85')

City XI | Vickery, Headley, Drake, Braithwaite (c), Wain (Tevenan 45'), Miles, Midwood, Holt, Parker (Oliver 86'), F. Samba, T. Samba (Whisker 86')

Subs | Hudson, Obin

As a result

City stay top of the Under 18 Premier League North table with 18 points and ahead of Manchester United.

Up next

City return to the CFA as we host Burnley in a 11:00 (UK) kick-off on Saturday 1 November.

Live updates of the game will be available on X and Instagram @ManCityAcademy, with a comprehensive match report to be available on mancity.com and on the Official Man City App shortly after full-time.

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