Under 18's at the Swamp

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Deserves the swamp name too. Good win again today 2 nil but the game was dominated by the wind and made good football very difficult. Having said that we did play plenty of decent football and Utd played none at all as we had them totally under control.

Our first goal was a joke gift as their keeper miskicked a clearance straight into Ambrose.It hit him, or he controlled it well and just smacked it home.Although we were miles the better side we didn't quite get it right in the last 3rd and didn't score again till very late on and again through Ambrose.This time a quality goal well worth watching when it comes onto the OS.

Not our best performance but the wind had a lot to do with that but still we showed great ability to pass the ball around and the scum had no answers at all.Late on they tried the strong arm stuff.One guy was booked for being a thug and then their centre back booked for crippling Boadu.Hopefully it won't be as bad as it looked as he was taken off on a stretcher.

2 nil was the least we deserved and it was the same score for the 16's on an adjacent pitch.They should have scored 4 or 5 as well.The future is looking god.

[Tokyo Blue]

Nice one, Doug.

Any news on Boadu? It was an inexcusably dreadful challenge and warranted a lot more than the yellow card it got. Fucking filth bastards.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Nice one, Doug.

Any news on Boadu? It was an inexcusably dreadful challenge and warranted a lot more than the yellow card it got. Fucking filth bastards.

Nothing on Boadu yet.I will keep an eye on the OS and Twitter as I follow him on there.

Really sad that a challenge like that gets done near the end of a match where Utd weren't really in it much.They had started the thug tactics because they couldn't compete at football but as ever the referee didn't seem to recognise what was going on.After the long break in play they got their only chance as well as we seemed a bit flustered.

[Tokyo Blue]

Nice one, Doug.

Any news on Boadu? It was an inexcusably dreadful challenge and warranted a lot more than the yellow card it got. Fucking filth bastards.

Nothing on Boadu yet.I will keep an eye on the OS and Twitter as I follow him on there.

Really sad that a challenge like that gets done near the end of a match where Utd weren't really in it much.They had started the thug tactics because they couldn't compete at football but as ever the referee didn't seem to recognise what was going on.After the long break in play they got their only chance as well as we seemed a bit flustered.

Indeed, both re the ref and the best chance they had coming straight after. It looked like a good block by the defender to me though. I really enjoyed the second goal after the shit they had been dishing out, and it was all because they could not compete on equal terms. Having witnessed the assault that david johnson committed at Maine Road many years ago in person, I expect little else from them.

Any news you can find, please pass on.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Titbit re Boadu from t'other forum.
"After the game Boadu was briefly putting weight on his leg and hobbling about a little. He had three large plaster type dressings on his knee, suggesting it could have been a cut."

[Ted Hughes]

Titbit re Boadu from t'other forum.
"After the game Boadu was briefly putting weight on his leg and hobbling about a little. He had three large plaster type dressings on his knee, suggesting it could have been a cut."

That's good news. The way they had his lower leg braced I was worried it was a break.

There was one typical rag passage of play in that game, when we split them wide open & it looked like they kicked our player in the box, but he stayed on his feet. The ball sprang loose stuffily straight to a rag who broke away. We caught him & took the ball off him, but a rag kicked our player's legs out 'play on' says the referee, they reach our box, rag does full on Ashley Young dive; free kick on edge of box, rags' first shot on target.

The only surprise was the ref didn't call it as a pen.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Most recent twitter:
I saw Denzeil Boadu hobbling under his own weight/steam after the game - so a fracture unlikely

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Titbit re Boadu from t'other forum.
"After the game Boadu was briefly putting weight on his leg and hobbling about a little. He had three large plaster type dressings on his knee, suggesting it could have been a cut."

That's good news. The way they had his lower leg braced I was worried it was a break.

There was one typical rag passage of play in that game, when we split them wide open & it looked like they kicked our player in the box, but he stayed on his feet. The ball sprang loose stuffily straight to a rag who broke away. We caught him & took the ball off him, but a rag kicked our player's legs out 'play on' says the referee, they reach our box, rag does full on Ashley Young dive; free kick on edge of box, rags' first shot on target.

The only surprise was the ref didn't call it as a pen.

Remember it well Ted. I seriously think that if the conditions had not been so bad we would have scored 5 or 6.

[Ted Hughes]

Titbit re Boadu from t'other forum.
"After the game Boadu was briefly putting weight on his leg and hobbling about a little. He had three large plaster type dressings on his knee, suggesting it could have been a cut."

That's good news. The way they had his lower leg braced I was worried it was a break.

There was one typical rag passage of play in that game, when we split them wide open & it looked like they kicked our player in the box, but he stayed on his feet. The ball sprang loose stuffily straight to a rag who broke away. We caught him & took the ball off him, but a rag kicked our player's legs out 'play on' says the referee, they reach our box, rag does full on Ashley Young dive; free kick on edge of box, rags' first shot on target.

The only surprise was the ref didn't call it as a pen.

Remember it well Ted. I seriously think that if the conditions had not been so bad we would have scored 5 or 6.

Agree completely.

I was telling my uncle on the phone about how we outpassed them & closed Utd down & just looked on a completely different level, he thought I was talking about the reserve game from a few days ago as his mate had said exactly the same about that one.

For many years, whenever we have played the rags, I have thought that they looked much much better coached than our kids, even though we were often better individually; they looked like they were a shit version of their 1st team & their players looked more ready to play proper football whilst ours played like a bunch of talented kids, thrown together & told to get on with it.

Today, we looked four divisions better in every aspect of football. It was like watching a Premier League team playing Stockport County managed by Neil Warnock. Every City player looked miles better than his opposite number, & the teamwork was infinitely better.

Great also to see our English lads looking so talented; Smith Brown was outstanding. No doubt theirs will be picked ahead of ours for the national team.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Titbit re Boadu from t'other forum.
"After the game Boadu was briefly putting weight on his leg and hobbling about a little. He had three large plaster type dressings on his knee, suggesting it could have been a cut."

That's good news. The way they had his lower leg braced I was worried it was a break.

There was one typical rag passage of play in that game, when we split them wide open & it looked like they kicked our player in the box, but he stayed on his feet. The ball sprang loose stuffily straight to a rag who broke away. We caught him & took the ball off him, but a rag kicked our player's legs out 'play on' says the referee, they reach our box, rag does full on Ashley Young dive; free kick on edge of box, rags' first shot on target.

The only surprise was the ref didn't call it as a pen.

Remember it well Ted. I seriously think that if the conditions had not been so bad we would have scored 5 or 6.

Agree completely.

I was telling my uncle on the phone about how we outpassed them & closed Utd down & just looked on a completely different level, he thought I was talking about the reserve game from a few days ago as his mate had said exactly the same about that one.

For many years, whenever we have played the rags, I have thought that they looked much much better coached than our kids, even though we were often better individually; they looked like they were a shit version of their 1st team & their players looked more ready to play proper football whilst ours played like a bunch of talented kids, thrown together & told to get on with it.

Today, we looked four divisions better in every aspect of football. It was like watching a Premier League team playing Stockport County managed by Neil Warnock. Every City player looked miles better than his opposite number, & the teamwork was infinitely better.

Great also to see our English lads looking so talented; Smith Brown was outstanding. No doubt theirs will be picked ahead of ours for the national team.

4 divisions better sounds good.Maybe today there was something in the ages of the teams as I was told early on that Utd had plenty of much younger boys playing.

Just on Smith Brown he is a very good player who plays all sorts of positions and I am not sure which his best or preferred one is. Until the last two games I have seen him at full back and central midfield but wherever he plays he looks the business.Two footed, calm in possession and seems to see what's going on around him very well.Captain as well which suggests leadership qualities.Another with real potential.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Re Boadu;

"the lad has confirmed via twitter that its soft tissue,stiches only thankfully."

[Ted Hughes]

Titbit re Boadu from t'other forum.
"After the game Boadu was briefly putting weight on his leg and hobbling about a little. He had three large plaster type dressings on his knee, suggesting it could have been a cut."

That's good news. The way they had his lower leg braced I was worried it was a break.

There was one typical rag passage of play in that game, when we split them wide open & it looked like they kicked our player in the box, but he stayed on his feet. The ball sprang loose stuffily straight to a rag who broke away. We caught him & took the ball off him, but a rag kicked our player's legs out 'play on' says the referee, they reach our box, rag does full on Ashley Young dive; free kick on edge of box, rags' first shot on target.

The only surprise was the ref didn't call it as a pen.

Remember it well Ted. I seriously think that if the conditions had not been so bad we would have scored 5 or 6.

Agree completely.

I was telling my uncle on the phone about how we outpassed them & closed Utd down & just looked on a completely different level, he thought I was talking about the reserve game from a few days ago as his mate had said exactly the same about that one.

For many years, whenever we have played the rags, I have thought that they looked much much better coached than our kids, even though we were often better individually; they looked like they were a shit version of their 1st team & their players looked more ready to play proper football whilst ours played like a bunch of talented kids, thrown together & told to get on with it.

Today, we looked four divisions better in every aspect of football. It was like watching a Premier League team playing Stockport County managed by Neil Warnock. Every City player looked miles better than his opposite number, & the teamwork was infinitely better.

Great also to see our English lads looking so talented; Smith Brown was outstanding. No doubt theirs will be picked ahead of ours for the national team.

4 divisions better sounds good.Maybe today there was something in the ages of the teams as I was told early on that Utd had plenty of much younger boys playing.

Just on Smith Brown he is a very good player who plays all sorts of positions and I am not sure which his best or preferred one is. Until the last two games I have seen him at full back and central midfield but wherever he plays he looks the business.Two footed, calm in possession and seems to see what's going on around him very well.Captain as well which suggests leadership qualities.Another with real potential.

I had only seen Smith Brown as centre mid or fullback previously

By the way Doug 'Maybe today there was something in the ages of the teams as I was told early on that Utd had plenty of much younger boys playing.' you should have learned by now ;)

Utd:

Dean Henderson 12 Mar 1997
Ben Barber 08 Sep 1995
Callum Evans 11 Oct 1995
Ryan McConnell 03 Oct 1995
Nicholas Ioannou 10 Nov 1995
Matthew Willock 20 Aug 1996
Sean Goss 01 Oct 1995
Joe Riley 06 Dec 1996
Demetri Mitchell 11 Jan 1997
Devonte Redmond 19 Sep 1996
Marcus Rashford 31 Oct 1997

City:

Billy O'Brien 21 Nov 1995
Pablo Maffeo 12th July 1997
Angel Tasende 4th January 1997
Ashley Smith Brown 31st March 1996
Matthias Bossaerts 10th July 1996
Jack Byrne 24 April 1996
Kean Bryan 1st November 1996
Jules Ntcham 9th February 1996
Brandon Barker 4th October 1996
Thierry Ambrose 28th March 1997
Jorge Intima September 1995

[Douglas Higginbottom]

haha yes I should know better but it was a Wolves fan who told me ( his son playing for Utd)

I knew Tasende was 16 but pleased to see the other full back Pablo Maffeo is also not 17.That makes him even more impressive to me.Ambrose too,quality.