Our U18s recorded an impressive 4-2 victory against Coventry City on Saturday morning to climb up to second place in the Professional Development League.
Luke Alker hit a stunning hat-trick, while Owen Warburton was also on target as the young Reds got back to winning ways at the Oakwell Training Ground.
From the first kick of the game, Barnsley put their foot on the gas and didn’t let go, with Alker and Bayley McCann often linking up on the left side to test the Sky Blues’ defence, which was a real strong point in the first half.
Eventually, we took the lead in the first quarter of an hour from this exact avenue as Alker cut inside the box from the left wing, and, after dancing around the Coventry backline, curled a beautiful finish into the right side of the net.
Much of the rest of the half was played like a game of basketball, with three goals in a bizarre eight-minute period. Our opponents struck first as they played a long ball down the right side of the pitch and into the box towards Asamoah, who took advantage of Carter-Rodgers’ small step to the left to volley into the bottom right corner.
Alker swiftly put the ball in the net for his second, a thunderous first-time strike that rattled in off the crossbar, before City scored on the counter-attack yet again - this time Destiny Nidjebu rolled home from yet another through ball, despite calls for offside from the Barnsley backline.
The young Reds didn’t let these two sucker punches deter them and after a period of domination, our persistence paid off as Alker secured his hat-trick just before the break with an opportunistic volley that beat Daniel Rachel despite him getting a hand to it.
HALF-TIME Barnsley 3-2 Coventry City
We enjoyed the lion’s share of possession before the restart, and it began to look like a question of when rather than if the Reds would extend their lead. Rafael Monteiro had the ball in the back of the net with a slick side-footed volley, however, the linesman’s flag was straight up for offside.
Eventually though, the inevitable came as Barnsley made it four through Owen Warburton, who struck the ball into the top left corner from a slightly awkward angle in the box, a goal that seemed to collapse the spirits of the visitors who remained fairly quiet for the remainder of the contest.
The Reds on the other hand had plenty of chances to extend their lead. Jack Woodcock had two great opportunities with his head, one immediately blocked by a Coventry defender and one that flew over the bar.
Vimal Yoganathan was also in the spotlight towards the end of the game, supplying Woodcock with his first attempt after a tricky run from the right wing into the box, as well as sneakily taking the ball from behind a City defender following a short goal kick, unfortunately, his following attempt was blocked, but Barnsley continued to hammer on the door throughout the last 15 minutes.
The referee blew the whistle to secure a first win in four in all competitions for the Reds, who are 10 points behind leaders Birmingham City with three games in hand, plus an encounter against the Midlands outfit here at Oakwell next month as the season reaches boiling point.
FULL-TIME Barnsley 4-2 Coventry City
REDS XI: Carter-Rodgers, Swift, McCann, Thompson, Bland, Wilkinson, Yoganathan, Warburton, Alker, Monteiro, Nzondo.
Subs: Lundoloki, Mbogba, Rayner, Woodcock, Reid.
