Our U18s extended their unbeaten run to 11 games as they dismantled Coventry City 4-1 on Tuesday afternoon.
A second half Josiah Dyer brace was added to late on by Alex Joof and Hayden Pickard as the young Reds opened up an astonishing 17-point gap at the Professional Development League summit.
Barnsley made a bright start to the encounter as they looked to challenge the visiting defence early on. A brilliant ball from Rogan Ravenhill picked out Mylan Benjamin on the left wing, whose drive and resulting cross created chaos in the City box, but the danger was eventually cleared.
The Reds continued to search for the opener in the first few minutes as they bombarded the Coventry area with a plethora of crosses. However, despite the flurry of chances, our youngsters were unable to find the back of the net as a result of some impressive Sky Blues defending.
Benjamin was the main outlet, causing City no end of problems, and midway through the half he exchanged passes with Vimal Yoganathan before seeing a low effort blocked.
Despite the Reds’ positive start, Coventry still posed a threat and Ravenhill had to be at his best to thwart the visitors from a corner late in the half.
HALF-TIME: Barnsley 0-0 Coventry City
Within ten minutes of the restart, our U18s made the long-awaited breakthrough when Benjamin found space down the left flank once more before crossing to the back post for Dyer to acrobatically turn home.
Chances to extend the lead came and went for the young Reds, with Pickard, Dyer and Josh McKay all coming close to doubling the advantage but lacking that clinical edge in the final third.
Typically, it was City who found the next goal of the encounter as they broke with a quarter of an hour remaining and netted an equaliser against the run of play.
However, if this season has taught us anything, it’s that our U18s have the character to overcome setbacks, and we soon had our noses back in front when Dyer powered a header in from Joof’s pinpoint cross moments later.
In the blink of an eye, it was three as Joof reacted quickest to tap home the rebound after an initial effort from a corner had bounced back off the upright.
With the points effectively wrapped up, the young Reds added the cherry to the icing through Pickard, who latched onto Ravenhill’s superb long ball before confidently slotting home to round off another sensational performance.
FULL-TIME: Barnsley 4-1 Coventry City
REDS XI: Ravenhill (GK), Kozluk, Benjamin, Bland (C), Hickingbottom, Joof, McKay, Yoganathan, Dyer, Chapman, Anaman.
Subs: Carter-Rogers, Pickard, Monteiro, Makiessi, Reid.
