City's U17 side began their PDL Trophy campaign with a convincing 6-0 victory over Port Vale on Tuesday.
MATCH SUMMARY
Last year's finalists produced a brilliant performance to start their campaign in the competition. It took just ten minutes for City to open the scoring, with Jack Sykes, fresh from gaining international experience this month, finding the net from Tiger Tobin's corner.
The young Bluebirds doubled the advantage with 27 minutes on the clock, as Keano Conaty unleashed a powerful drive into the top corner, giving City a 2-0 lead at the break.
Striker Sykes found his second and third goal early in the second half, marking a fine performance with a hat-trick. The fifth of the afternoon was netted by Ellis Yorke, who fired home after some great work from Ollie Walsh.
With nine minutes left, City added a sixth goal from another Tobin corner, which was headed home by T-Jay Parfitt.
PRE-MATCH | TOM HUTTON
Ahead of the fixture, Tom Hutton said: "It's a competition that we're all looking forward to - the players and the staff. It gives us an opportunity to play against teams we maybe wouldn't normally play against in our games programme. That brings variety, which is something we're always looking to add into our schedule. It enriches the experience for the players.
"The game poses a different challenge for the players, in that it is cup football. Each result has a significant consequence with regards to qualification. We're going to have that in the forefront of our mind.
"The main focus though will be on how we perform, because we know that if we do that, with consistency, and play as well as we can, then it will bring about positive results, which we'll be trying to do throughout the tournament."
It's a busy day for the Bluebirds. As well as the U17 match, we also have U21 action against Burnley and a Carabao Cup clash away at the Clarets.
Tom continued: "It brings some challenges in terms of selecting a squad. There is a really good synergy though between the First Team, the 21s and our age groups. We have a games programme meeting with Darren Purse each week to make sure our players are challenged appropriately. We've been planning for this game for the last couple of weeks.
"We'll be in a position to give some U16s an exposure to a competitive game and get eyes on them as they move towards the scholarships decisions, which are really important. As always, we're always trying to push our best U18s into 21s football as well. That's a massive part of what we try and do
"We always aim to be as positive as we can from a team perspective but at the front of our decision making is ensuring we challenge the individuals appropriately, and that's something we've done consistently for some years now and it is reaping its rewards with the boys ready to step up into the First Team.
"Some of our scholars will go from being some of the younger players in their age group to the more senior players in these U17 fixtures. They have a responsibility to set the right standards and behaviours and deliver a performance that the U16s can look up to as well. We always try and set those challenges and Tuesday will give the opportunity for us to do that."
ABOUT THE GAME
The young Bluebirds open their PDL Trophy campaign on Tuesday against Port Vale.
They will also face off against Walsall (A - 01/10/25) and Cheltenham Town (H - 21/10/25) in the group stage.