Academy suffer City defeat

It was a bad day at the office for Liverpool Under-18s who crashed to a 4-1 defeat at Academy League leaders Manchester City on Saturday afternoon.

Hughie McAuley's second placed side went into the game without last weekend's hat-trick hero Nathan Eccleston who was nursing an injury, and fellow striker James Ellison was also ruled out with a knock.
 
Joe Kennedy scored a brilliant consolation goal for the Reds but McAuley's team were second best on the day.
 
"It wasn't a good game for us but we are honest enough to admit they were better than us," McAuley told Liverpoolfc.tv.
 
"For the first 20 minutes we were the better team. Alex Kacaniklic had a great chance but we couldn't score.
 
"Overall they were sharper than us. They passed the ball better and took their chances. They deserved to win and they had a better cutting edge in attack than we did.
 
"Joe scored a late goal three minutes from time with a rasper of a shot from 30-yards out. It was just a pity the goal didn't come earlier in the game.
 
"City are a good team but we have done well this season. We will bounce back and we will now look forward to the derby with Everton next Saturday."
 
Liverpool Under-18s team: Martin Hansen, Michael Scott, Christopher Buchtmann (Shane O'Connor 70), Conor Coady, Joe Kennedy, Andre Wisdom, David Amoo, Adam Pepper (Michael Roberts 65), Lauri Dalla Valle, Marvin Pourie, Alex Kacakniklic (Thomas Ince 50). Subs not used: Alex Cooper, Hakan Duyan.

They miss Ecclestone no question.  This will be on LFC.TV at some point over the next few days.  That Joe Kennedy has impressed me when I've seen him.  Worth watching the highlights of these lads.  From what I've heard Man City are one of the better sides knocking around so this defeat wasn't an enormous shock.

City's youth system is one of the best in the country at the moment, you only need to take a look at their first team over the past few years to see that. How many of them have come through the ranks at City? Ireland, Flood, Croft, Hart, Richards, Johnson, Onnouha, Sturridge, Evans.

So a defeat isn't too much of shock, especially without Ecclestone. City are a good side at this level, one of the best. Not too disappointed.

This coming shortly after our Reserve team trashed a Portsmouth Reserve team that included the likes of Kanu & Utaka,  4 - 1.

This coming shortly after our Reserve team trashed a Portsmouth Reserve team that included the likes of Kanu & Utaka,  4 - 1.

That was a shame it wasn't in the reserve league proper. We could really do with a convincing win at the moment.