Senior defenders Grant Hanley and Ivo Pinto were replaced by Aaron Ekumah and Ciaren Jones whilst Bilal Kamal dropped into a defensive position after starting in a more attacking role last game; he replaced Jordan Thomas at left-back.

Tom Scully and Alfie Payne remained in City’s midfield, but Saul Milovanovic was listed on the bench after featuring for the Under-18s against Newcastle on Saturday, he was replaced by Simon Power who was brought on a substitute for City last time out.

Adam Idah missed out on today’s game after playing and scoring for City’s Under-18s on Saturday and he was replaced by Spencer Keller who joined Ant Spyrou and Josh Coley who completed City’s attacking line-up.

The opening stages saw City press from the off, the ball fell for Payne around 25 yards out but the midfielder couldn’t keep his shot on target and missed Nathan Harker’s goal by a distance.

Ten minutes in both teams were settling into the game, although City looked dangerous when they went forward with Spyrou getting on the end of a few long ball’s however his chances game to nothing.

Three minutes later, Billy Johnson was forced into action for the first time, comfortably catching Callum Robert’s curling effort from the edge of the City box before throwing the ball out to start a counter-attack.

City started well and created chances of their own. Kamal drove forward with the ball on the left before sending in a teasing cross which was eventually met by the head of Florian Lejeune who put the ball just over the bar.

Just over 20-minutes in, Simon power put City a goal up. The midfielder was sent behind the Magpies defence before Power held off two Newcastle defenders before he slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.

A few minutes later Power nearly got his second of the game, however his effort this time was easily dealt with by Harker who caught the powerful shot which was straight at him.

The home side then started to put the pressure on, their first chance came with over 30-minutes gone as Sean Longstaff was left free at the back post, luckily the midfielder was unable to keep his shot on target as he smashed the ball over the City goal from a tight angle.

The Canaries conceded twice in the latter stages of the first half, as Newcastle completely turned the game around. The first came from the penalty spot with Roberts smashing the ball into the bottom corner of City’s goal just out of the reach of Johnson’s fingertips.

The Magpies second goal came just on the stroke of half-time, after some quick passes in the box, the ball was pulled back for Rosaire Longelo who was there to slot the ball into the bottom corner.

The opening stages to the second-half saw City push forward looking for an equaliser but were finding it difficult due to the amount of Newcastle players behind the ball.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Scully cut back onto his left-foot on the edge of the area before curling a shot towards the Newcastle goal, but his shot just went just over the bar and out for a goal-kick.

As the second half went on, City were dominating the ball and trying to find a way past the solid Newcastle defence, but were struggling to get in behind the high Magpies defensive line.

With 15 minutes remaining, Longstaff found some space on the edge of the area before driving a shot towards the City goal, however despite the speed of the shot it didn’t trouble Johnson who made the save at ease.

The home side continued to press as both Wilson and Mo Sangare went close from a few yards out after getting on the end of crosses from Liam Gibson on the left-hand side. Sangare’s chance was saved by Johnson with a diving save to the keeper’s right.

Newcastle saw the game out in the final stages, as Harker caught anything which was crossed into the Newcastle box.

City Starting XI: Johnson; Ekumah (Vaughan 85), Kamal, Jones, Odusina ©, Payne, Power (Milovanovic 70), Scully, Spyrou, Keller, Coley.

Unused Subs: Berkeley, Hayes (GK), Ahmadi.

Under-23s lose 2-1 against Newcastle

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