Colchester United U18s beat Bolton in Premier League Cup
COLCHESTER United under-18s booked their place in the Premier League Cup semi-finals following a 2-1 extra-time triumph over Bolton Wanderers who finished with only eight players, writes BRIAN WALLER.
Colchester United boss Danny Cowley joined in the praise for Gabe Breeze after his side’s 0-0 draw with Carlisle United.
The visiting boss said he fully expected the net to billow when Lyle Taylor met Jack Payne’s cross in the second half.
But Blues No1 Breeze denied the striker with a save Cowley said he has never seen bettered.
“I thought it was a goal – it was a really good counter from us, a great ball from Ellis [Iandolo], a brilliant ball from Payney and I just thought, ‘goal’,” said Cowley.
“I think Lyle made a really good connection and the goalie has just somehow tipped it over. I don’t know how he saved it.
“I know there’s a lot of exaggeration in football but I don’t remember seeing a better save live.”
Cowley’s own keeper Matt Macey made two top saves to deny Carlisle, and the visiting manager said his side claimed a “hard-earned” point at Brunton Park.
“It was a hard-earned point. This was never going to be an easy game for us,” said Cowley.
“Sometimes people think about luck being the bouncing ball or decisions going your way but often luck, particularly in these divisions, is when you play a team when it’s their manager’s first home game and you know it’s going to be more difficult.
“If you look at Carlisle, I’d imagine they’ve got a top three budget in the division, they’ve got really good players, they’ve got a manager [Mark Hughes] that has played and managed at the highest level and Wales internationally, so they’ve got a lot going for them.”
Colchester had the better of the first half before Carlisle were on the front foot for much of the second 45 minutes.
Cowley admitted he was disappointed at how his team’s display faded.
“We come away disappointed really, because it’s always the process for us to be a 90-minute team,” he added.
“We played really well in the first 45 minutes up until the final third and then in the second half, we probably created more but didn’t play with the same control and rhythm, which we’re a bit frustrated about.
“I thought we were excellent in the first half and had total control of the game.
“We really built good foundations and it was just disappointing in the second half that we didn’t maintain the same control and rhythm.
“They changed their system to a 4-3-3 after 20 minutes, just because we were dominating the ball.
“In the second half, they changed again to a 3-5-2 and really stepped up on us and we lost a little bit of control.
“We just needed to draw them out and play into the front,” added Cowley, whose side dropped a place to 12th despite going six games unbeaten.
“We have the best number nine in the division at linking the play so we had to play into him and get our wingers running in behind.
“They released 3v3, 4v4 on the halfway line so we just needed to play over them but we didn’t and the game just became a bit chaotic and we didn’t do well in the chaos.”
