B Team beat Manchester City 2-1 at home behind-closed-doors
- Huddersfield Town B 2-1 Manchester City
- Koroma and Edmonds-Green score early in second half
- Ben Jackson assisted both goals
Huddersfield Town’s B Team were victorious in their home win on Tuesday afternoon as they beat Manchester City 2-1 in a friendly behind-closed-doors.
A strong Young Terriers side took to the pitch today, following their away win against Brentford B at St. George’s Park at the weekend, which resulted in their winning run continuing against Manchester City this afternoon.
An end-to-end fixture and an entertaining 90 minutes saw Josh Koroma score his second goal in two games as well as Rarmani Edmonds-Green get his name on the scoresheet from a corner delivered by Ben Jackson.
Both sides took turns in pressing high throughout the game and despite the scoreline being 0-0 at half time, Town’s youngsters had their opportunities to take the lead under the close eye of First Team Head Coach Mark Fotheringham and his Assistant Coaches Narcís Pѐlach and Kenny Miller, who attended the game on Tuesday afternoon.
Our midfield stood strong and made it hard for the Manchester City youngsters to get through without being dispossessed by Etienne Camara or Brahima Diarra, but Kaine Taylor won a free kick for the visitors after he was fouled by Brodie Spencer just outside the area. The set-piece was defended well and cleared back into open play where our midfield pushed forwards.
The first chance of note for Town came in the 22nd minute as our Young Terriers forced the Premier League Academy side to sit deep and worked hard to always recover possession when it was lost; Koroma received the ball on the side of the pitch and carried into space just on the edge of the area, he shot past the defenders and into the gloves of the diving ‘keeper.
After this, the game opened up for our B Team with their second chance coming from Jaheim Headley’s cross, which landed at the feet of Tyreece Simpson at the back post, unfortunately the balance of the striker is off and his eventual effort landed in the hands of the goalkeeper.
Continuing our great work in midfield, Diarra battled with Isaiah Dada Mascoll and won the ball back before he sent the ball to Camara, who shot just wide from 25 yards and meant that we would go into half time 0-0.
The Terriers came straight back out with the same determination and drive that they had in the first half, and Camara started where he left off with an early opportunity but there was too many defenders surrounding him and his touch back to Diarra was intercepted and cleared.
Less than a minute later, Town scored their first goal with a stunning strike from Koroma in the 47th minute, the winger curled the ball into the top right corner from 18 yards out after he was sent the ball from Jackson who initially won the ball back high.
The second goal came soon after as Edmonds-Green rose high and nodded home the ball after a great delivery into the box, just under the crossbar, from Jackson following a corner set-piece in the 51st minute.
Charles Ondo joined in with the action immediately after he came off the bench, when he received a fantastic pass from Camara before he sent Kyle Hudlin into the penalty area. Hudlin tested ‘keeper Ciaran Slicker from a narrow angle, and he gathered it at the second attempt before Ondo could run onto the rebound.
Giosue Bellagambi made a great from a free-kick placed just outside the box, he got down low and scooped away a free-kick from Oscar Bobb. Manchester City then got a goal back in the 67th minute after a good spell of continuous pressure, when Scottish winger Liam Smith scored from a narrow angle.
Towards the end of the 90 minutes, Edmonds-Green defended brilliantly to deny them the equaliser as he got his body between the ball and Nico O’Reilly on the edge of the six-yard box. This sparked a good counter-attack from Town as Hudlin released Headley into space down the left, his pull back found Ondo in the box, bit his first effort was blocked and put behind by the last defender.
Town’s Team (3-4-2-1)
Giosue Bellagambi; Loick Ayina, Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Ben Jackson (c); Brodie Spencer, Brahima Diarra (Tom Iorpenda, 59’), Etienne Camara, Jaheim Headley; Tyreece Simpson (Charles Ondo, 59’), Josh Koroma (Myles Bright, 74’); Kyle Hudlin
Unused subs
Michael Acquah, David Adewoju, Cian Philpott
Goal Scorers
Josh Koroma (47’), Rarmani Edmonds-Green (51’)
Want to watch the Huddersfield Town B Team in action at the John Smith’s Stadium? We host Blackburn Rovers in the knockout stages of the Premier League Cup on Tuesday 7 February at 7pm. CLICK HERE to find out more!