Development Squad knocked out of cup with Under 16’s keeper Marosi stealing the show
6th March 2023Report by Simon Burnett
| Lincoln United U18 | 4-1 | Barton Town Development |
| Cavill Jenkins Fields Horne | Burnett |
Today we travelled to Lincoln for the quarter final of the Steve Asher Memorial Cup against Lincoln United U18s. This was going to be our toughest test this season against a very good Lincoln side who had won every game but one this season.
| Player | |
| GK | Luca Marosi |
| DEF | Jake Croft |
| DEF | Jimmy Hiley |
| DEF | Max Brandrick |
| DEF | Jamahl Palfreyman |
| MID | Jake Forman |
| MID | Alfie Rigo |
| MID | David Finley |
| MID | Cole Salter |
| ATT | Seb Parker |
| ATT | Seb Burnett ⚽ |
| SUB | Ben Curtis |
| SUB | Rio Drury |
| SUB | Ethan Hewitt |
| SUB | Will Osgar-Wardley |
| SUB | George Ransford |
The lads started the game quickly and coped well with the opposition in the early stages. Due to Oscar Kuehn’s injury, Luca Marosi was in goal stepping up from the Under 16’s for the first time and he impressed from the start with a confident display dealing with some early shots well and commanding his box like he’d been there all season.
The Swans were playing out from the back as much as possible and doing well but Lincoln broke the deadlock after 15 minutes from dispossessing us and finishing well. Their tails were up now but the lads kept matching them and creating chances too with 3 or 4 crosses in quick succession going close with each. Then Parker looped a ball forward perfectly behind the Lincoln back line and Burnett outpaced his marker and slotted home for the equaliser.
The first half continued to be end to end with chances for both teams with Marosi keeping us level. The opposition then dispossessed us again in midfield and broke through for their second. Going into the break 2-1 down but lads playing very well and still in it.
First 10 minutes of the second half were end to end again as we pressed for an equaliser and then Lincoln caught us on the break with a long ball over the top that they finished clinically.
We then lost Burnett, Rigo and Hiley in quick succession to injuries replaced by Drury, Osgar and Curtis. Salter then made way for Hewitt and Foreman for Ransford. All subs did really well when they came on but having to change so much around so quickly our shape took a while to settle and by that time Lincoln got a 4th.
One of our best performances all season against a very good team with only the result itself disappointing. Great for Luca Marosi to not only step up from under 16s but he put in a commanding man of the match performance between the sticks and certainly kept us in the game for 65/70 minutes with many excellent saves.
