Bristol City 2
Reds 3 (Kassouri 26, 63, Templeton 48)
Barnsley's Under 18s enjoyed an opening day victory at Bristol City with Billel Kassouri helping himself to a brace.
THe youngsters put the early start behind them as they raced into a three-goal lead following a solid and bright start.
“They stood off us and showed us a lot of respect,” said Head of Academy Coaching, Mark Burton. “We popped it about well and they struggled to cope with us. We had half chances but restricted them to none.”
Billel Kassouri opened the scoring on 26 minutes after latching on to Jack Alton’s sublime, defence-splitting pass before slotting into the bottom corner.
Just over two minutes into the second half saw Matty Templeton double the Reds’ lead after charging his way into the area to meet Talent Ndlovu’s threaded ball. The full-back’s strike was cleared off the line but ricocheted in off another City defender.
In cruise control, Billel Kassouri pounced on a sliced clearance by the hosts’ ‘keeper and kept his composure to beat both the City stopper and defender to add a third on 63 minutes.
However, the Reds’ finish to the clash left a bit of a sour taste for Burton as the Robins pulled two goals back in stoppage time to create a frantic finish.
Reds: Rusling, Wardle, Templeton (Riley 74), Jeffs, Gooda, Rogerson, Ndlovu, Goodwin, Kassouri (Mullen 78), Alton, Charnley (Hanna 80).
