Pride of Manchester snarred by Wolves

MCFC U18s 1 - 1 WWFC U18s

by Andrew Waldon

The game had been brought forward from Saturday so that Jim Cassell and his coaching team could travel down to Exeter to watch City opponents in the FA Youth cup, Swansea City in action.



The change of date also brought a change of venue as the fixture was switched to the Regional Athletics Arena.



City lined up with two changes to their regular side, Ben Morris came in at left back for his first game of the season and Jack Redshaw started on the right, while Ahmad Benali moved into the middle for the missing Andrew Tutte



Right from the outset of the game it was clear that Wolves had come to frustrate City with a five man defence, and a solitary man upfront and it was to become a infuriating afternoon for the high flying City side and it was obvious from the start that we would not be seeing the average of four goals a game we had been used to seeing



Chances were at a premium and when City did have sight at goal, a burly Wolves player would always be in the way. Chris Chantler should have done better when finishing a Kieran Trippier cross from the right but was put off by a Wolves defender when he had the goal at is mercy and blazed over from yards out and just before the break a Trippier corner found Abdisalam Ibrahim free at the far post but his header struck the post and went out to safety.





Jack Redshaw broke the deadlock just past the hour mark, A City free kick was half cleared, Chantler picked up the loose ball and his first time shot was blocked with the rebound falling to Redshaw, he cut inside and curled the ball into the top corner.



Despite being second best for large parts, Wolves got the point they had clearly come for after a goalkeeping error saw the visitors make it 1-1 five minutes later .Under no pressure, Joe Clegg's attempted clearance from a simple Boyata back pass flew up into the air, only for the Wolves Number 10 to beat Clegg to the ball as it dropped and level the scores.



City suffered a further blow when Robbie MaK limped off with a suspected groin injury and a strange substitution took place when with further attacking options on the bench, Paul Power who was in temporary charge of the side brought on Sean Tse to play in midfield



Redshaw had a further opportunity to restore his sides lead when a Nimely pass finally dissected the Wolves back five but the diminutive striker dragged his shot wide off the target City couldn't create any real chances in the latter stages and when the final whistle went, Wolves celebrated as if they had won the world cup.





Team

Clegg, Tripper, Morris (Guidetti), Wabara, Boyata, Benali, Redshaw, Ibrahim, Mak( Tse), Nimely, Chantler



Subs: E Johansen (GK), Elabdellaoui, Cieslewicz