U18s: Bolton 0-7 Manchester City

Wanderers’ youngsters slipped to a 7-0 defeat against their Manchester City counterparts at Lostock on Saturday afternoon.

The Young Whites actually started the game brightly and had the better of the opening half-hour, with Will Abbotts and Luke Griffiths both missing good chances when well-placed inside the penalty area.

However, the visitors soon made Bolton rue their missed opportunities by scoring twice in quick succession before the break.

Abbotts later hit the bar in the second half, but that was the closest the Trotters came to a consolation as City fully taking charge of proceedings after the interval with a further five goals.

Speaking after the final whistle, Wanderers head coach David Lee said: “We were the better side for the opening 40 minutes but mistakes on the day cost us.

“We lacked the ability to cope with their dominance. They’re a team full of foreign imports with class and ability, and our younger players couldn’t bridge the gap.

“The gulf between the academies was clear to see, we just couldn’t match their wealth of expensive talent.

“It was a tough lesson learned for our academy players. They can now see the level they have to get to to achieve their ambitions.”

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Spooner, Garratt, Honeyball, Nolan, Kennedy, Griffiths (McKenna 70),Cvetko, Elumb (Alex 60), Abbotts, Palmer.

Source

Ouch!

get them in the first team.

it justs goes to show that money talks at any level even the academies. They can afford to cherrypick the best talent from around the world and even bring over the families as well.

The big clubs are picking up talent as young as 7 and getting their parents to sign pre-apprenticeship forms. The parents sign willingly as they would love it if their little lad could play for Real Madrid, Chelsea or Manure etc.

The big clubs sign hundreds of kids every year and then filter them as they get older. By the time they are 15 or so they have usually let half go. Maybe 2% make the Academy proper although some "extras" are given contracts to see if they mature. From 16 onwards the "marginal" ones are farmed out to other clubs on loan so no wages have to be paid. If they make it on loan they come back in the fold, If they don't they are sold - usually to the club that loaned them. Marginal players like Robbie Savage often go on to make a professional career with second or third string clubs,

You can be fairly sure that clubs like Bolton have no chance of discovering young talent these days. Our best hope is to make something of the big boys sloppy seconds.

Close game.

Shocking ref.
We were robbed.