A visit to Leckwith in atrocious weather is never a pleasant prospect. Actually, given that Leckwith resembles a grim piece of austere Soviet Bloc architecture and has no open refreshment facilities, you could quite easily remove 3 words from that opening sentence without changing the sentiment.
I came here last January to watch our U18s get beaten 5-0 during a weekend when our U18s, U21s and first team conceded 15 goals between them. Game on.
With the FA Youth Cup tie against Blackburn taking place next Wednesday, some players missing through injury (Milo Robinson, Caio Ifans) and with Harlan Perry and Brogan Perry performing loan duties with Cardiff Met, we fielded a quite light side today in front of an understandably spartan crowd.
We lined up 4-3-3: Jakub Nowak; Kaven Bloniarczyk (s – Alex Godfrey 61m), Archie Quick (s – Jack May – 61m), Ben Phillips (captain), Wahab Ojetero (s – Elis Thomas 82m); Alfie Jones, Bobo Evans, Bobby Lewis; Billy Clarke, Harvey Gray (s – Ioan Johnston 73m), Callum Jones.
Unused sub: Tom Wright (g/k)
We started sluggishly and disappointingly went a goal down on 3 minutes when we didn’t deal with a simple through ball that allowed left winger Barton to convert a right footed shot into the far corner of the Swans net. Cardiff’s Hilaire-Clarke took a potshot wide on 7 minutes as we struggled to get a grip on the game. Meanwhile, the bucketing rain got even more intense.
One became two on 15 minutes when Cardiff’s Hilaire-Clarke rather easily got to the byline on the right and his cross wasn’t properly dealt with, Tankiewiscz collecting the loose ball in plenty of space to score from inside the area.
A little surprisingly, we got back into the game almost immediately when Ojetero worked his way into position to centre from the left and Bobby Lewis was unattended at the far post to convert.
Callum Jones had a couple of threatening left wing runs, including one shot saved and one cross that keeper Higgs punched clear. We looked to be gradually getting ourselves back in contention until some calamitous defensive decision making presented the ball for Watts to extend Cardiff’s lead on 35 minutes. Watts had a further effort pushed around the post shortly after.
3-1 down at half-time, the side performed slightly better after the interval, but it was evidently really hard going for our youngsters and without the leadership and influence of missing players. The weather of course was the same for both sides although the exposed nature of the pitch really doesn’t encourage constructive football.
Callum Jones tried to open things up, Alex Godfrey came on and looked lively, we just couldn’t get a foothold back in the match and play was uneven with little pattern from either team.
A rare and delightful sequence of linkup play involving Callum Jones, Alfie Jones and Bobby Lewis created a shot for Godfrey that was stopped on the line by a Cardiff defender with the keeper beaten. Seconds latter Barton burst clear at the other end to strike the post with another right wing effort.
The sides rather cancelled each other out for the remainder of the match, the only event of note in the later stages being Barton’s dismissal for dissent.
Another poor experience for our youngsters here, which has become something of a hoodoo venue in recent seasons. Bobby Lewis and Billy Clarke were the pick of our side, while Callum Jones and Alfie Jones never gave up trying to make things happen.
It was with a sense of relief that I discovered our U21s fixture here on Tuesday has been deferred.
Hopefully our U18s can bring our best game to the FA Youth Cup tie on Wednesday.