Forthcoming Fixtures

A combination of injuries & international call ups, saw many changes to City's regular EDS side. Manager Andy Welsh gave first full starts to four players, Meppen -Walter, Henshall, Roman-Angel and Razak and then called on three others to make their debuts with second half appearances  for Clowes, Robinson and Drury.

Abdul Razak completed a memorable 72 hours to the start of his City career by being given a straight red card on 55 minutes, but the ten men of City remained resilient to hold out for a draw.

After hearing most of the day that the M6 near Wigan was shut we decided to go the M60 and M61 route to Leyland; but both motorways had accidents and so we did not get into the ground until five past seven and we were informed that City was already a goal behind in the third minute when Bolton had crossed from the right through Michael O'Halloran and it was met with a powerful strike from their nineteen year old 6'3" Oldham born forward who had signed from Oldham last summer.

Bolton were playing down the slope in the first half and you could see that a lot of City's younger players were not quite used to playing on such a pitch and Bolton were mainly in control and City were backing off a little too much at times. That allowed space behind the midfield which Tope Obadeyi exploited when he was able to run on and shoot from about twenty yards which Gunnar Nielsen did well to save and turn behind for a corner.

The game was haulted for about five minutes near the end of the first half as Bolton's defender Tom Eckersley was stretchered off after a rather innocuous challenge.

The start of the second half was far more eventful. City seemed to start the brighter and use the down slope to their advantage and so when Andrea Mancini ran down the right side with two defender into the corner of the pitch; he attempted to cut inside them but was caught and went down. The resulting free kick was taken by Mancini and he whipped the ball into the centre of the area and young Harry Bunn lept above the Bolton defence to flick his header into the far corner of the goal past goalkeeper Rob Lainton to score his first ever reserve league goal.

Just two minutes later and returning from making his first team debut on Saturday, Ivorian midfielder Abdul Razak decided to lunge into Odabeyi in the middle of the pitch with no real pressure on and the referee Mr Fletcher adjudged it was dangerous enough to warrant a straight red card and so Abdul received his marching orders; quite a start in his City career then.

City continued to try to find another goal and possibly a winner when Joan Roman Angel found himself in space and let fly with a shot from about twenty five yards that went inches over the crossbar; but that would be as close as City would get for the remainder of the game.

Bolton with their spearhead of Eaves had three good chances in the final twenty minutes to find a winning goal for themselves after they found that extra bit of space with the extra man.

The first of those chances was when Odabeyi who was switching flanks throughout the game was on the left and he crossed into the area and there was Eaves to powerfully head to goal; fortunately for City the header was straight at Nielsen.

The second attempt was when the ball came into Eaves near the central edge of the area with a few defenders around him used his strength to turn and shoot which forced another good save from Nielsen.

The final effort was just a few minutes later when eaves struck a twenty five yard shot that again Nielsen saved but parried into the path of O'Halloran but his finish into the goal was ruled offside as he was offside when the initial shot was taken.

Bolton pushed City back into their area on a few other occasions but the young players held their nerve and timed their blocks and tackles well to deny Bolton another goal and them a victory. The result moves City above Wigan into second on goal difference with a game in hand.

Given the pressure City ended the game with six U18 players on the pitch who all did themselves very proud with some fine performances and will certainly be putting pressure on their older U21 counterparts very soon.

Teams:

Bolton Wanderers:

Lainton, Reilly, Alonso, Dennis (Mac Gregor 72), Eckersley (Hampson 45), Blakeman, Obadeyi, Vela, Eaves, O'Halloran, Eaves (McGeechan 86)

Subs:Lynch, Sampson

Manchester City:

Neilsen, Smith, Chantler, M Johnson (Clowes 77), Kay, Meppen-Walter, Roman-Angel, Razak, Bunn, Mancini (Drury 89), Henshall (Robinson 58)

Subs: Wood(GK)

Attendance: 231