Development side beaten 3-2 by Cardiff
James Roberts and Josh Ruffels were on the mark for the Development Side this afternoon but a poor start cost the young U’s dearly as they lost 3-2 in a friendly at Cardiff City.
Trailing 3-0 at the break a Ruffels penalty and a Roberts goal were not enough to claw the game back for the U’s, as Chris Allen told us.
“The scoreline is not really a reflection of the game over all because we were sloppy at the very start and 3-0 down after 20 minutes, so it was game over really.
“Credit to the lads for the way we came back into it but for some reason our application wasn’t right from the first whistle: we were a goal down inside the first minute and 2-0 down soon after, both from loose bits of play in dangerous positions.
“They made it 3-0 with a quick break and Cardiff are a good young side who had taken advantage of the way we started.
“We asked for an improvement in the second half and shook things up a bit, and we got a positive reaction. Jonny Giles got fouled inside the box and Josh Ruffels took responsibility with the penalty to make it 3-1. Then James Roberts got in behind, on to a Josh Ashby through ball, and slid it home to make it 3-2.
“We had improved, definitely, but it wasn’t the performance we were looking for and we have to learn that you can’t just turn up; you have to be mentally prepared and start the game properly.”
United
Buchel, Long, Cundy (Hawtin), Dunkley, Evans (Grant), Ashby, Rose (Humphreys), Ruffels, Trialist (Giles), Hylton (George), Hoban (Roberts)