Forthcoming Fixtures

Newcastle were sat top of the league before this fixture but the team put out for this game was a shadow of their normal side. With most of their first team squad in Portugal for warm weather training, their youth team in FA Youth cup action the following day and a number of fringe players out on loan, their side was so depleted that they named a 15 year old as their keeper and gave debuts at this level to a number of other players.

For City there was no Michael Johnson, Andrea Mancini kept his place in the side and there was even a positive 15 minute cameo role from Gai Assulin.

After studying the age of the Newcastle players they are perhaps not quite as young as originally portrayed as most of them are nineteen or twenty and so only slightly younger and less experienced than the City team; but there was a real gulf in class showing this evening despite Newcastle double teaming City's most creative outlet Donal McDermott but City still had plenty of the ball but Newcastle had the first real opening with good work down the right with Daniel Leadbitter being clean through in the area but he blazzed his shot over.

City however were the team to take the lead in the thirteenth minute when a ball through by Tom Smith down the centre to John Guidetti who appeared to have a decent first touch but the usual good surface at Ewen Fields is looking a bit worse for wear and the ball kicked up but John managed to get enough on the ball with his shot to put it past the fifteen year old Jonathan Mitchell in the Newcastle goal.

City within a minute hit the crossbar from an Andrea Mancini free kick from the edge of the area. Newcastle had a decent strike by Patrick McLaughlin from just over twenty five yards but it was straight at David Gonzalez.

City continued to press for a second goal when Andrew Tutte played a ball into Guidetti and he cut inside and fired a twenty five yard shot but it went just wide of the post.

So slightly against the run of play in the thirty seventh minute a loose ball came to Michael Richardson in the area and there was a tangle between him and Ryan McGivern and the referee adjudged it to be a penalty which Samuel ameobi stepped up and converted as he sent Gonzalez the wrong way.

Both teams had decent chances to score with about five minutes remaining when Newcastle's Brandon Miele headed over and then a minute later Guidetti pushed into the box and tried to fire past Mitchell from a tight angle on the left.

The second half was very much one way traffic as City had substitute Joan Roman Angel pulling a lot of the strings and he played a one two with Guidetti as he slipped a lovely ball into the box for John to fire the ball across Mitchell and into the far corner of the goal in the fifty second minute.

City made it three with again Smith turning provider for Guidetti and he turned and shot with power that Mitchell could not hold and Angel came in to fire in the rebound into the far corner of the goal.

City made their second substitution with Gai Assulin making his first appearance for City on English soil and within a minute he had made an impact when he ran into the area onto a Guidetti through ball and went down rather easily but the referee Mr Fletcher awarded the penalty and Guidetti had a brief discussion with gai as to why he should take the spot kick to complete his hat-trick. That he did as he sent Mitchell the wrong way as he powered his shot into the top left corner of the goal.

City made it five when McGivern made a marauding run down the left before sending a cross in that had a deceiving flight which left Mitchell at sixes and sevens and Chris Chantler had a virtual empty goal to fire into and seal a convincing victory.

City now hold a commanding position in their reserve group as they will more than likely finish top if they continue their points to games ratio they have at present till the end of the season.

Teams:

Manchester City:

Gonzalez, Smith, McGivern, Kay, Wabara, Veseli, Mancini (Assulin 74), Tutte, Guidetti, McDermott (Roman 46), Chantler

Subs: Johansen (GK), Meppen-Walter

Newcastle United:

Mitchell, Leadbitter, Dummett, McDermott, Henderson, Newton, Inman, McLaughlin, Richardson, Miele(Campbell 46), Ameobi

Subs: Hoganson, Toland, Mogwo

Attendance: 716