After sixteen goals in two matches, the U18s are on a fantastic winning run in the Professional Development League...
City’s Under-18s continued their remarkable run of form with two hugely impressive victories against Cardiff City and Colchester United.
Jason Farndon's side continue to go from strength to strength, following up a 7-0 victory away at Cardiff City, in which Jordan Ponticelli scored five, with a 9-0 win against Colchester United at the Alan Higgs Centre.
Just eight points off of top spot with three games in hand, the run now sits at seven straight wins, including five clean sheets on the bounce.
Farndon said: “Both sides we have faced have been a little disjointed in terms of players available for their 23s, but nobody took pity on us when we were in a similar situation. We had to keep the winning mentality going and the lads did the job.
“I think the best teams win games when they’re not playing very well, and we didn’t start particularly well against Cardiff. There were a lot of square pegs in round holes, but it was important the lads kept going and once we got our confidence up we overpowered them really.
“The chances Ponticelli had, he possible missed some easier ones. He is six months into the programme, he has got a lot to learn and we are working to improve those weaknesses, but he is still a very good player at this level. Six months in and top goalscorer in the league is fantastic.”
After his five goals against Cardiff, Ponticelli followed that with a further two against Colchester. However, with seven different scorers on the day the 18s highlighted their strength in depth and attacking qualities throughout the side.
The 18s have now scored an impressive 56 goals in just 20 games, as they look to maintain their purple patch in front of goal against Millwall in their next league fixture.
“We were dominant from the start, we created plenty of chances and actually missed several good opportunities. We gave away a poor penalty at 0-0, which they missed, but the lads played some good stuff and scored some great goals.
“We have a very attack minded team, with a lot of creativity going forward. We have some players others teams may not touch because of their physical stature, but we have moulded talent and hard work to put together a positive run at the moment,”
He added: “Whilst goalscorers quite often get the praise, Konrad Skuza has been fantastic in recent weeks and deserves some plaudits. At key points in some of the games he has made hugely important saves when the score is still in the balance.
"It was an absolutely world class save just before half time against Cardiff and that could’ve changed the game had that gone in."