It might of been a cold and wet Autumn evening but that wasn’t going to stop the excitement as our Under 18s made the short journey to Binfield to kick start their inaugural Allied Counties Youth Football League Central Division campaign having made the switch from the Combined Counties Football League.
It was a pretty even game to begin with but Dan Snow put the Moles ahead with seven minutes on the clock.
With eleven minutes played, city won a corner after some good passing but it came to nothing.
With a quarter of an hour played Binfield captain Ellis Smith found the Moles’ second goal of the evening. A dangerous free-kick was whipped in from the edge of the box and wasn’t cleared.
With twenty-two minutes gone, Charlie Johnson delivered a great ball into the box from a free-kick but it was cleared away from danger.
With twenty-four minutes gone, Reiss Baker found himself one-on-one with Binfield’s keeper Euan Stiles who came charging out to meet him before he could shoot.
City were continuing to enjoy a good spell and another chance followed as the half hour mark approached. A good ball from Louis Eade drew Euan Stiles out of his goal, in which he was almost stranded.
With thirty five minutes on the clock Adam Goodwin found himself through on goal but frustratingly the offside flag was raised.
City continued to pile on the pressure and with thirty seven minutes on the clock, Stiles was forced to make a good save after a dangerous header from Will Norton.
Will Norton forced another great save out of Styles with forty two minutes on the clock after a great cross flashed across goal.
Half Time: Binfield 2 v Reading City 0
The second half started with two fresh pair of legs being introduced for the Cityzens, Keigan Allen and Charlie Gmiterek replaced Adam Goodwin and Will Norton.
With fifty three minutes on the clock Sam Waller forced a superb save out of Stiles. A save so good that the City bench applauded the young keeper.
Just before the hour mark, City made another change as Louis Eade was replaced with Lucas Taplin who would make his debut for the club having joined our Under 18s this season.
With an hour gone, City finally found their first goal of the game after Charlie Johnson crossed a great ball to the back post.
With sixty five minutes played, debutant Lucas Taplin and Keigan Allen linked up to chase down the ball with no to beat but the keeper, however Stiles cleared it before it caused him any bother.
With sixty seven minutes played, there was some more great link up play between Keigan Allen and Lucas Taplin, which saw us win a corner. The corner however unfortunately came to nothing.
With sixty nine minutes played, Charlie Gmiterek won us a corner which was cleared and allowed Binfield to launch a counter attack. Only minutes later another great corner from Charlie Johnson was delivered into the box, but somehow it was kept out.
With seventy five minutes played Reiss Baker decided to shoot from range and it came off the post. Minutes later Keigan Allen delivered a great cross which flashes across the goal, unfortunately no one was at the far post to poke it home.
City swapped Joe Corker for Archie Friday with 76 minutes played. Archie has joined the Under 18s this summer having progressed through our Youth Academy and made his Under 18s debut from the bench.
With eighty-four minutes played, another great corner was delivered by Charlie Johnson but we fail to convert.
With ninety minutes on the clock, Lucas Taplin very nearly had a dream debut, unfortunately his shot was just a fraction wide.
With the game now in injury time, City were frantically searching for an equaliser but Binfield restored their two goal cushion with ninety one minutes on the clock thanks to Matt Tweed.
City however refused to give up and with ninety five minutes on the clock, Charlie Gmiterek found our second goal of the evening with a perfectly placed free kick.
Full Time: Binfield 3 v Reading City 2
It’s one of football’s oldest cliché’s but football is a game of two halves and based on our young Cityzens second half performance the score line doesn’t do them justice as they should’ve got something from the game.
As a team they now have a week off, although some of them will feature in next Friday’s FA Youth Cup clash with Thatcham Town. Upon their return to Allied Counties action if they play like they did in the second half, they won’t go far wrong, so there is positives to take from the defeat.
Our Under 18s return to action on Tuesday 24th September when they host North Leigh in the Allied Counties Youth Football League Cup here at the Rivermoor.
