An incredibly young Peterborough United Under 18s were beaten by Cardiff City in the Professional Development League on Saturday lunchtime.
Jack Sykes found the net on five minutes, before a Riley Hilaire-Clarke double and a stand-alone strike from Mannie Barton put the contest well beyond Jimmy Unwin’s side.
City were quick out of the traps, and landed the first blow within five minutes - with their first attempt on goal. The ball was fed over to T-Jay Parfitt on the left hand side, who picked out SYKES in the penalty area, smashing home the opener.
The blitz from the visitors continued on 13 minutes. This time, Robert Tankiewicz – who would prove to hold a presence in midfield – picked out the path of HILAIRE-CLARKE, whose strike wrongfooted Ben Westcott.
And then our youngsters might have reduced their deficit to one – but Danny Higgs had other ideas. George Holley stood up to a dead ball and took aim for the bottom corner, forcing the City ‘keeper into a stop at full-stretch.
Buoyed by their early two-goal lead, the away side continued to attack. The ball was knocked free to Tankiewicz inside 12-yards, but Westcott was quick to close the angle, forcing the midfielder to opt to support out wide, where Hilaire-Clarke’s effort was well defended.
Now, with the bit between their teeth, the momentum shifted in our favour, as Junior Crozier made up ground to advance into the final third – but his strike landed wide.
City – as they had done an hour earlier – found the net within minutes of the whistle when HILAIRE-CLARKE fired past Westcott.
The action didn’t let up with the woodwork coming to our aid, as Bamlak Dagne’s back pass escaped Westcott.
Our wide options seemed the best avenue to try and break down the masked ranks of grey shirts. In doing so, Dagne made up 20-yards, before shifting the ball onto his left foot and whipping across goal – with the strike sailing over the crossbar.
But we were rocked on our heels once more in the 69th minute. BARTON was allowed room to drive at goal, arrowing an effort past Westcott into the bottom corner to complete the action.
Posh: Westcott, Crozier (sub Fraser 78min), Joseph, Holley, Aikins, Arber, Simmons (sub Mlityalwa 56min), Christoudias, Davies, Beech, Diagne (sub Sudakaran 78min). Unused sub: Bucknall, Komolafe.
Half-Time: Posh Under 18s 0-2 Cardiff City Under 18s
Full-Time: Posh Under 18s 0-4 Cardiff City Under 18s