Brentford U18s 0 Coventry City U18s 2 | OneFootball

Brentford suffered a 2-0 defeat to Coventry City in their second Professional Development League Cup fixture on Saturday.

Coventry scored goals in both halves of the game and managed to hold on to their lead despite going down to 10 men early in the second half.

With Lydia Bedford’s side beating Watford U18s 3-0 in their opening PDL Cup fixture back in August, the young Bees knew a win over Coventry would see them go through to the last 16 of the competition.

The hosts began the game looking to press Coventry high up the pitch, but this put them at risk of being hit on the counter.

Coventry did exactly that and nearly got themselves ahead five minutes in when Josh Stidder broke through, but Conor Wolfheimer did well to close the angle as the winger’s shot went wide.

The visitors took their next chance in clinical fashion on 13 minutes with Josh Toluwaloju finding the bottom corner with a precise shot from inside the box.

Brentford had a great opportunity to get themselves on level terms just before the half hour mark when a Trae Payet cross found Naeem Giscombe unmarked inside the Coventry box.

The striker’s touch let him down though as the Coventry keeper was able to gather the ball comfortably.

Brentford pushed forward in numbers as they looked to level the game, but Coventry defended their goal well leaving the Bees frustrated for most of the first half.

Bedford’s side had one last chance before the interval when Greg Asemokhai met a Kaya Halil corner heading the ball back into the box at the far post. Mikel Fracis swung a leg at the ball from six-yards with his shot going just over the bar.

Despite ending the half well, Brentford found themselves two goals down three minutes after the break.

Stidder’s shot from outside the box was saved by Wolfheimer with the ball falling into the path of Alfie Wright who tucked home the rebound.

With Brentford 2-0 down, Coventry captain Dave Mantle made the second half an interesting one after he was given a second yellow and sent off on 55 minutes.

The game opened up for the young Bees who began creating chances with an extra player on the field.

Payet found Domeiro Bobb-Semple at the far post with a great cross from the right flank on the hour mark, but the wingers first time effort flew over.

Next it was Halil who delivered a cross into Giscombe this time with the forward’s header going inches wide of the post.

Adam Poliakov began seeing a lot of the ball for the home side with the midfielder coming close on 72 minutes with a shot from outside the box.

The visitors continued to defend well with their physical style proving to be successful.

Brentford struggled to create any more chances for the remainder of the second half with Coventry going on to secure the three points in the PDL Cup.

Brentford Under-18s: Wolfheimer, Payet (Trimboli, 77’), Ivanov (Golding, 82’), Francis (Djoro, 57’), Klimas, Asemokhai, Bobb-Semple, Honor (Ouattara, 82’), Giscombe, Halil, Poliakov

Coventry City Under-18s: Lines, Mantle, Blakely, Gordon, Wright, Ambursley, Toluwaloju, Stidder, James, Shepherd, Nembhard

Subs: Cnthclow-Woyo, McBribe, Nidjebu, Russon

Lydia Bedford disappointed with cup loss

Brentford Under-18s head coach Lydia Bedford says there was a lot of mistakes made from her side in the 2-0 defeat to Coventry City.

"We made a lot of errors out there today and gave them the ball at the wrong times," said Bedford.

"We had some good spells in the game but overall we didn't deserve to get anything from the match."

Bedford went on to talk about the reaction she saw from her team following the away side's red card in the second half.

She said: "First of all we shouldn't have conceded the second goal which came just before their red card, it was an avoidable goal for sure.

"I think we created enough goal scoring moments in the final half hour to win the game but the execution just wasn't on point."