EX LINDSEY SCHOOL BOY YOUNGSTER MAKING BIG PROGRESS AT MANCHESTER CITY

image003.jpgJust like the senior team, the young Blues are clinging to
the hope that they can still squeeze into the next phase of the NextGen Series.

In a miserable week for City in Europe, Attilio Lombardo’s side lost a lead
and, despite a frantic finish, could not force a draw.

The youngsters tried out the three-man defence with which Roberto Mancini has
experimented, as Courtney Meppen-Walter – who was on the bench for the first
team against Ajax – and Adam Drury played as wing backs.

Sixteen-year-old Spaniard Jose Angel Pozo pounced when the Juve keeper could
only parry a shot from Olivier Ntcham – another 16-year-old fielded in a young
City team – to give City an early lead in the game, at Ewen Fields.

But Andrea Schiavone curled a free kick inside Ian Lawlor’s near post to level
on 29 minutes and Magnusson Hordur put the Italians in control, again direct
from a free kick, on 62 minutes.

It looked all over when Leonardo Bonatini scooted past Karim Rekik before firing in the third
with 19 minutes left, but Marcos Lopes scored with a deflected shot to set up a
desperate finish.

The top two in each of the six groups qualify automatically for the last 16,
but the Blues can now only qualify as one of the four best third-placed teams.

CITY EDS: Lawlor, Bossaerts
(McHale), Meppen-Walters (Leigh), Evans (Glendon), Plummer, Rekik, Adam Drury, Ntcham, Cole, Pozo, Lopes