The Sky Blues U23s travel to South Yorkshire to face Barnsley at their Oakwell Training Ground this afternoon, with kick off scheduled for the Professional Development League clash at 1pm. Here’s everything you need to know about our opponents.

Last Time Out…

The U23s’ achieved back to back wins last Thursday when they travelled to South Wales to face Swansea City in the Professional Development League, achieving a 3-1 win.

The Sky Blues took the lead through in form forward Fabio Tavares after 16 minutes but the match looked like to be heading for a draw when Tarrelle Whittaker equalised for the hosts with eight minutes remaining.

However Tavares netted his ninth of the season three minutes later to seemingly snatch the points with Ricardo Dinanga making the game safe four minutes into injury time to keep City top of the league!

Sky Blues U23s XI: Cian Tyler, Blaine Rowe, Josh Pask, George Burroughs, Ricardo Dinanga, Trialist, Jonny Ngandu (C), Ryan Howley, Aaron Evans-Harriott, Fabio Tavares, Harrison Nee.

Subs: Charlie Callaghan, Isaac Moore, Julien Dacosta, Fionn O’Brien, Evan Eghosa.

The Opposition

The Tykes finished 4th^th in the 2020/21 Professional Development League Southern Division and currently find themselves 6^th after losing 2-1 to Crewe Alexandra last time out.

The home side began the better when Crewe’s Regan Griffiths had a shot blocked on the line by Jason Sraha before the away side hit the bar through David Bremang before the former Coventry striker hit the post minutes later.

Barnsley ‘keeper Archie Brown then denied Griffiths but with a minute to go of the half Connor Salisbury put the Railwaymen ahead when he intercepted Brown’s past and passed into an empty net.

Two minutes into the second half saw the Yorkshire side level in Cheshire when Crewe ‘keeper Dave Richards didn’t deal with a corner with the ball falling into the path of Sraha to equalise.

However the hosts would not be denied three points in the rain when Connor O’Riordan found the far corner after being set up by Joel Tabiner to leave the Tykes empty handed.

Last Six Games

Lost – Crewe Alexandra U23s 2-1 Barnsley U23s (Professional Development League)

Draw – Barnsley U23s 1-1 Ipswich Town U23s (Professional Development League)

Won – Sheffield Wednesday U23s 0-1 Barnsley U23s (Professional Development League)

Lost – Barnsley U23s 1-3 Sheffield United U23s (Professional Development League)

Lost – Millwall U23s 4-0 Barnsley U23s (Professional Development League

Won – Queens Park Rangers U23s 1-2 Barnsley U23s (Professional Development League)

Last Time We Met

The two sides last met in was in March 2021 with the game ending 0-0 in South Yorkshire.

The Sky Blues came away with a point after a strong performance from the home side with City being able to name an unchanged back line for the first time in a considerable amount of time showing its benefits.

Northern Section Table: