Cardiff City's U18s were held to a 1-1 draw by Crewe Alexandra on Saturday afternoon.
MATCH SUMMARY
City created most of the early chances. Hayden Allmark had the first sight of goal, but his effort went over the bar.
Mannie Barton had his first of many involvements soon after, making a darting run down the wing. His ball was contested in the box, but Riley Hilaire-Clarke got his foot on it, finding the gloves of the keeper.
Barton found space again, worked his way in the box and was brought down by the opposition. After the referee adjudged it to be a penalty, Barton slotted home the opener.
The Bluebirds kept their momentum, as Hilaire-Clark received the ball on the half turn and shot straight at the keeper.
The visitors had a few shots in the closing stages of the first half, though Sam Jones produced some heroic saves to hold the advantage. In the second half, Barton took it to the byline and played it through to Hilaire-Clarke, whose shot at goal was forced wide.
Leeyon Phelan had an attempt that drifted wide soon after, before Lloyd-Jones produced another save late in the match. It was bittersweet for the hosts, as Crewe Alexandra won a penalty in added time, which they converted to level the game.
REACTION | TOM HUTTON
Following the match, head coach Tom Hutton gave his thoughts on Saturday’s clash.
“It’s a bit disappointing when you concede such a late goal,” Tom began. Sam's made a great save, and they hit the bar, so they might have the impression that they deserved the point.
"If you look across the 90 minutes, we didn’t take the chances we had to increase our advantage. I said to the boys that learning from this game will come from not killing the game off when we had the chances."
RECENT RESULTS
The young Bluebirds come into this fixture having drawn one and lost two of their last three fixtures.
City were held to a 1-1 draw against league leaders Charlton Athletic after Paul Moreno’s spectacular free-kick cancelled out the Addick’s earlier goal before half time. And despite recording some late chances to snatch all three points, the hosts had to settle for a point in Leckwith.
This result was followed up by two difficult away games against Peterborough United and Wigan Athletic, where the Bluebirds fell to 1-0 and 4-0 defeats, respectively.
Comparatively, this weekend’s opponents come into the fixture having won two and drawn one in their previous three games, having most recently beaten Millwall 3-2, and sit in fourth position in the PDL North league standings.
TICKET INFORMATION
Entry for the match at Cardiff International Sports Campus will be free for all supporters.
REACHING THE GROUND
Supporters planning on attending should use the following address:
Cardiff International Sports Campus, Leckwith Rd, Cardiff, CF11 8AZ.
The ground is located an 11-minute walk away from Ninian Park Station and a 32-minute walk from Cardiff Central Station.