‘A Fair Result’ – Barradell On Boro Draw

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‘A Fair Result’ – Barradell On Boro Draw

Coach Adam Barradell felt it was ‘a good performance’ from our Under-18s to pick up a point from Saturday’s clash with Middlesbrough.

2026-08-20T12:00+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

9 Hours 19 Mins Ago

‘A Fair Result’ – Barradell On Boro Draw

Coach Adam Barradell felt it was ‘a good performance’ from our Under-18s to pick up a point from Saturday’s clash with Middlesbrough.

Sam Jones

2026-08-20T12:00+01:00

‘A Fair Result’ – Barradell On Boro Draw

Coach Adam Barradell felt it was ‘a good performance’ from our Under-18s to pick up a point from Saturday’s clash with Middlesbrough.

Sam Jones

2026-08-20T12:00+01:00

‘A Fair Result’ – Barradell On Boro Draw

Coach Adam Barradell felt it was ‘a good performance’ from our Under-18s to pick up a point from Saturday’s clash with Middlesbrough.

Sam Jones

2026-08-20T12:00+01:00

‘A Fair Result’ – Barradell On Boro Draw

Coach Adam Barradell felt it was ‘a good performance’ from our Under-18s to pick up a point from Saturday’s clash with Middlesbrough.

Sam Jones

2026-08-20T12:00+01:00

Our Under-18s drew 2-2 away at Middlesbrough last Saturday
Coach Adam Barradell assessed the performance in the season opener
City head to Bournemouth in the U18 PL Cup next Tuesday

Starting the new season in U18 Premier League North, the young Foxes were held to a 2-2 draw at Rockliffe Park, despite twice holding the advantage through goals from James Quinn and Luqman Aideed.

Finlay Turner’s late goal saw the hosts claim a share of the spoils, though Barradell was satisfied with the point earned on the road having fielded a fairly inexperienced line-up in Teesside.

“I thought it was a good first game and a good performance from the boys,” he assessed. “It’s the first year we’ve been in the northern division so we’re in a new league, playing against different teams and travelling up to Middlesbrough was a really tough test.

“It was a hard-fought game. To come away with a 2-2 draw, obviously, we’re disappointed to concede in the last 10 minutes, but overall I thought it was a fair result.

"There were some really good performances. We had two Under-16s starting, a league debut for Rubens Nbatumbu and James Quinn, who scored. I was really pleased with him and he’s earned that start in pre-season.

“Alfie Dignum, a second-year scholar, had to wait his turn last year and was in and out of the team. I thought he defended the box well up against two strikers. It was a really pleasing performance from Alfie.”

After what he described as a ‘mixed’ pre-season, Barradell is looking forward to getting into the rhythm of the season and testing the team against a host of different opponents across several competitions.

He continued: “We’ve had a real variety of games, playing Man City, Plymouth, Stoke and Preston. We’ve not had the group consistently as a lot of the Under-18s have been around the Under-21s and that has given opportunities to boys from the Under-16s.

“The boys have really adapted well, equipped themselves in terms of what me and Adi [Yussuf] are asking from them and I can’t fault their application and attitude. Hopefully they can put some of that into practice in the games.”

City’s U18 Premier League Cup campaign begins on Tuesday, against AFC Bournemouth, travelling down to the South Coast for another away fixture. Barradell is looking to build on the performance and improve in certain areas with the ball.

The coach added: “It’s a midweek game and another team that are new to category one in the southern league. It’s not a team we’re used to playing but we’re looking to build on the performance from Saturday. That’ll be the aim for us.

“We’ll have a bit of time in training which will help to get the Under-16s along with us by training together. It’s making sure that, when it comes down to the last 20-25 minutes, we have the ball a little bit more.

“We tightened up as a group on Saturday and ended up playing longer than we wanted to. Players have got to show for the ball a little bit more and be braver to take the ball under pressure and play in those moments. If we’d have done that, we’d have probably won the game, having controlled it. Unfortunately, we were unable to do that.”

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