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Goal Machine stars in thumping win
Barclays Under 21 League
Monday 24th March 2014
Blackburn Rovers 0 Manchester City 6
Goal Scorers: Hiwula(4), Lopes(P),Fofana
Team:
Lawlor, Drury, Tasende, Plummer, Denayer (Bossaerts), Bryan, Lopes, Fofana, Hiwula, Ntcham, Cole(Byrne)
Subs: O'Brien (GK), Bytyqi, Glendon
Attendance: 700
City having a reduced fixture plan for March after a very busy and successful February the U21s were keen to get back on the horse after a defeat in their only game in the league and bottom of the table Blackburn Rovers was the ideal game to do so as their free flowing football was able to flourish and the goals came from Seko Fofana, Marcos Lopes and a great four goals from Jordy Hiwula.
City started the game as they intended to make their mark and secure a comfortable victory when in the third minute, when the team with only one player being twenty years old forced the play from defence down the left side and Angelino Tasende floated a cross in and Jordy Hiwula had a first touch but shot straight after and he unfortunately blazed over the bar.
The breakthrough was just two minutes around the corner with some really nice one touch football that moved the ball quickly up the pitch which eventually saw Lopes play a one-two with Fofana on the left hand side going into the area and he finished low and hard under the body of David Raya in the Blackburn goal.
City could clearly see that the Blackburn players were playing with no confidence what so ever and readily exploited it at will and Olivier Ntcham had a chance in the eighth minute to double City’s tally when he burst into the box and struck a decent shot but it went inches wide of the right post.
That second goal was all about the pace down the right hand side of full-back Adam Drury who moved up field well and over-lapped Lopes who fed a fast paced ball on that looked like it might run out but Drury did really well to get there and pull the ball back with pace on it that striker Hiwula just had to run onto to fire into an almost empty goal.
Seko Fofana clearly wanted to add more than his single goal on an evening when he could see he was getting space just outside the area and again he used that space to fire in another of his powerful efforts but this time Raya did very well to get a strong hand to the ball and push away for a corner.
The chances kept coming when a long crossfield pass from Jason Denayer from right to left where Lopes brought the ball down with a great first touch but the defender closed his space down but he still found Hiwula but he skewed the chance wide.
Blackburn actually won their first corner in the twenty ninth minute but City broke from that corner at pace and running into the Blackburn half City had five players on two but they all seemed to get ahead of themselves and failed to stay behind the ball for what clearly would have been an easy chance to score instead of the obvious off-side that was rightly given.
Again Drury’s pace was there to see with just under ten minutes of the half remaining he burst down the right and fired in yet another cross with pace but despite Hiwula being on the move he could not quite get to the ball sufficiently to get a good contact and force a save or another goal.
The second half was all about the first twenty minutes where Jordy Hiwula added a hat-trick of goals to his first half strike with all three goals being very good finishes and Lopes added a penalty to that tally.
That penalty was the first of those four goals when a long ball over the top on the right hand side up to Devante Cole just inside the area and he attempted to turn Will Beesley but the defender brought him down and referee Paul Marsden did not hesitate in awarding the spot kick which Lopes confidently stepped forward and sent Raya the wrong way.
Then came Jordy’s seven minute second half hat-trick which really boosted City’s goal difference which I am sure will be very important for the top four play-off place chase with just five league games remaining.
His first goal of the half was the best of his four goals on the night when he received the ball into himself just over twenty yards out and he touched the ball up and fired into the top corner of the goal with a wonderfully executed strike.
The second goal was just five minutes later was a very good cross from Tasende and a very good touch again by Jordy as he set himself and fired in from the edge of the area and he crashed his shot off the underside of the bar and in to complete his hat-trick on the night.
He however was not finished as seventy seconds later he was firing another ball past Raya as he was sent free into the area on the right side by a Lopes pass and he as always kept his composure to fire hard and low past him and make it a first class four goal salvo on the night.
City changed their shape a bit with a couple of substitutions which did allow Blackburn to try to get a consolation but with the combination of their lack of confidence to exploit some casual mistakes from City and a couple of decent saves from Ian Lawlor the score remained a firm nil to them.
Drury was perhaps kicking himself that he did not at least make Raya make a save when he was put clear through into the right of the penalty area by Lopes the provider again, but Adam chose to shoot high into the near post and not across goal and the ball fired against the stan,tion.
Next up for City is a very tough home fixture this Friday at the Etihad against fifth placed Sunderland who are level on points with City but played a game more and an inferior goal difference.
Posted in EDS Match Reports by Gavin Cooper/Andrew Waldon.