City continue fine form in PL Cup by seeing off Peterborough

Manchester City continued where they started in our Under-18 Premier League Cup campaign, by comfortably beating Peterborough 5-1 at the CFA.

Ben Wilkinson’s side broke the deadlock within six minutes through Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, before two goals in four minutes from Jaden Heskey saw us head into half-time with a healthy advantage.

Our youngsters kept pushing in the second half, and Luke Fletcher got his name on the scoresheet, before Joseph Davies scored a consolation for the visitors.

Substitute, Dan Batty came off the bench to round off the scoring as we picked up another important three points in Group D.

WHAT HAPPENED

After a lengthy delay to proceedings due to traffic issues, we got underway at the CFA under great conditions with the Sun piercing through the Manchester clouds.

Ben Wilkinson’s young side started on the front foot and were unlucky not to be ahead early. Jaden Heskey had a shot parried out, and Ashton Muir could not get on the follow up after great last ditch defending from the visitors.

Our fast start was to be rewarded, as Farid Alfa-Ruprecht found some space on the right, he took a few touches of the ball before he unleashed a powerful shot into the bottom left corner to give us a deserved lead.

We kept piling the pressure on Peterborough and it was so nearly two. A fine ball from Stephen Mfuni from deep found Alfie Harrison, who drilled the ball across goal, but nobody was there to tap in to an empty net.

The Posh found their best opportunities on the counter attack, with City giving little away.

We made our dominance count, as we doubled our lead on 15 minutes. Muir twisted and turned to get away from his defender before he composed himself and squared the ball across to Heskey, who fired the ball into the net.

And only four minutes later, City’s no.8 grabbed his brace. A short free-kick was played by Muir to Harrison, who’s burst of pace brought him in the box, and similar to the second goal, he passed it to Heskey, who held off his defender, and fired a snapshot past the Peterborough keeper.

City kept probing for more before the break, as Harrison burst through midfield again and let fly on a shot that produced a fine one handed save from the visiting keeper, as he tipped it over the bar.

After the break, in typical Manchester City style, we pushed for a fourth, and that’s what we delivered. After fine play around the box, Luke Fletcher finessed a shot around Boro keeper, Jake West, to put a firmer grip on the game.

Peterborough put their mark on the game after the hour mark. After a scramble in the box Joseph Davies got to a second ball first, and acrobatically kicked the ball past the City defenders on the line and into the net.

This did not hold City back, as the team heeded Wilkinson’s instructions to keep attacking the game. Substitute Dan Batty received the ball in the box, he controlled it before sending a shot into the far corner.

HOW WE LINED UP

Ben Wilkinson selected Spike Brits to start between the posts, with a back four of Ezra Carrington, Kian Noble, Stephen Mfuni and Rhys Thomas protecting him.

Charlie Gray sat in front of the back four with Jaden Heskey and Alfie Harrison playing further forward in a midfield trio.

Luca Fletcher led the attacking line, with Farid Alfa-Ruprecht and Ashton Muir supporting him on the wings.

Manchester City U18s

XI | Brits, Carrington, Noble, Mfuni, Thomas, Gray, Alfa-Ruprecht, Heskey, Fletcher, Harrison, Muir

SUBS | Naylor, Wint, Batty, Warhurst, Henderson-Hall

Peterborough U18s

XI | West, Rose, Mills, Holley, Gilbert, Toyton, Davies, Marcon, Winters, Kelmendi, Ntege

SUBS | Vnnin, Sakalas, Beach, McWilliams-Marland, Freeman

WHAT IT MEANS

After picking up another three points in the U18 Premier League Cup, we have leapfrogged our opponents to top of Group D, as we look to finish top and secure qualification for the knockout stages of the competition.