Youth Team – U18’s WIN – Scunthorpe United 0 v Bradford City 5
Last Saturday saw us travel over to Scunthorpe to play what was our 1st game since Christmas. We have had 2 cancelations over the last couple of weeks so the lads were raring to get back to action. Games against Scunthorpe have traditionally always been tight and well contested and we were expecting this to be no different.
In the early exchanges we had plenty of possession as it became clear that Scunthorpe’s game plan was to drop off to the half way line and defend deeper. On 5 minutes Sumaili Cissa had a shot that went narrowly wide after some good build up play, then on 8 minutes both Joe Brennan and Reece Jenkinson provided 2 fantastic crosses that we failed to get on the end of. On 10 minutes we continued to take the game to Scunthorpe and both Joe Brennan and Luca Mellor had shots that the Goalkeeper managed to save. On 18 minutes our dominance finally paid off when a Callum Chippendale free kick was headed across goal by Jimmy Pollard for Sumaili Cissa to head home in to an empty net. As the half progressed we had further chances to extend our lead but couldn’t capitalise.
In the 44th minute it was Scunthorpe who nearly got back in to the game, after a long ball over our back 4 saw us concede a free kick right on the edge of the box. From the resulting set piece, Chandler Hallwood made up for his mistake giving away the free kick by tipping the ball over the bar meaning we went in at the break 1-0 to the good.
The 2nd period started much same as the 1st with us taking the game to Scunthorpe, and on 52 minutes we managed to extend our lead, after a fine run and cross by Sumaili Cissa saw Luca Mellor break in to the box and finish in the corner. On 70 minutes we put the game to bed .Joe Brennan chased down a loose back pass and the Scunthorpe Goalkeepers clearance cannoned of Joe in to the empty net. On 82 minutes Jimmy Pollard got in on the scoring act ,after heading home the rebound when his shot was initially saved.
On 86 minutes Jimmy then doubled his tally ,after a fine run and cross by u16 Ellis Hudson ,saw him getting across the defender at the far post and firing home.
Overall it was very pleasing performance and result particularly as it was our 1st game back since losing 2-0 against Liverpool in the FA Youth Cup just before Christmas.