U18s: Lincoln City 1 – 2 Bradford City – 22nd August 2015

This Saturday we travelled to Lincoln City looking to extend our unbeaten start to the season.

We made a positive start with some good link up play in the opening minutes between Niah Payne, Reece Webb-Foster and Xander McBurnie. A corner in the third minute taken by Ellis Hudson, was tipped across goal by the goalkeeper and Danny Devine’s early effort narrowly missed the target.

We went 1-0 in the 8th minute thanks to Danny Devine’s long range strike. Devine won the ball outside the box and passed two defenders before finding the bottom right-hand corner of the goal.

We looked strong at the back and worked as a team to regain possession and push forward.  Chandler Hallwood’s goal kick on 12 minutes found Ellis Hudson who was fouled outside the box, the resulting free kick was well block and cleared by the Lincoln defence.

Defender Kesi Omolokun’s 22nd minute header was well caught by the Lincoln goalkeeper and the home side came close minutes later with their shot was deflected behind for a corner.

Sumaili Cissa was inches away from increasing our lead on 30 minutes. Good link up play from Reece Webb-Foster and Ellis Hudson set up Cissa, whose shot was just wide of the target.

We dominated the possession and continued to threaten the Lincoln goal. Webb-Foster’s shot on 35 minutes was comfortably saved by the goalkeeper however, we were rewarded for our efforts in the 40th minute when Xander McBurnie’s long ball found Webb-Foster who chipped the ball into the net to make it 2-0.

Lincoln nearly equalised from the restart when their shot hit the side netting and slack defending saw them pull a goal back in the dying seconds of the first half.

The high tempo continued into the second half as we were awarded a free-kick in the opening minutes. Devine played short to McBurnie whose shot at goal went over the bar.

We looked comfortable on the ball and had several chances to extend our lead. Webb-Foster caught McBurnie’s long ball on the bounce and struck it just wide of the goal on 56 minutes, Sumaili Cissa’s volley hit the post on the hour mark and Ellis Hudson’s shot five minutes later was tipped behind for a corner.

Lincoln applied pressure towards the end of the game but we managed to hang on to claim all three points. They nearly equalised on 70 minutes when their strike went just wide of the net and fortunately, their two consecutive corners in the last ten minutes were well cleared by our defence.

Next week, we are playing Oldham Athletic (A) in the first round of the Youth Alliance Cup.