Our Under-18s exited the FA Youth Cup after a X-X fourth round defeat to Manchester City.
A rampant City netted four times before Callan Hamill reduced the deficit from the spot before the first half was out.
Bailey-Joseph added our second as the clock ticked towards the final whistle, but it wasn't to be as we bowed out of the competition.
What happened
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We sustained early spells of City pressure, which called for Jack Porter to make a superb stop with his feet to deny Floyd Samba, before a last-ditch block from Callan Hamill. Our skipper launched his body in front of Kylian Midwood's shot to deflect the ball over the bar.
Fine work from Brando Bailey-Joseph down the right flank carved out a clever ball into Teshaun Murisa, who arrived late on the edge of Max Hudson's box to fire an effort goalward. Theo Julienne couldn't divert out of the way in time for the ball to pass beyond him to test the goalkeeper.
The Citizens found a breakthrough just before the half-hour mark, when Samba was brought down in a dangerous area. The set-piece was converted by the City captain, Kaden Braithwaite, who curled his effort around our wall and into Porter's bottom right corner.
We came agonisingly close to an equaliser moments later, when Bailey-Joseph leapt high to beat his opposition, and almost caught the Manchester side out, if it wasn't for Dante Headley to desperately scoop off the goal line and behind. Samuel Oyekachukwu saw his header clear the upright from the resulting corner.
The home side doubled their lead after Floyd Samba had initially seen his shot ricochet off the woodwork, into the path of his brother, Tyrone Samba. The City attacker angled his strike through our defence and beyond Porter before he could reset himself.
Christian Dunbar-McDonald made it three in admittedly impressive fashion. He had weaved his way up the pitch on a solo run, before a curled attempt nestled low and out of reach for our no.1 to prevent.
Tyrone Samba then extended his goal tally with five minutes left of the first half, again linking up with his brother, who had squared the ball into our box and only needed a tap goalwards to make it 4-0.
Bailey-Joseph fashioned some hope just before the interval. Our right-winger teased his way into the opposition box and was tripped by Hudson for the referee to award a penalty. Ceadach O'Neill converted high and central to get us on the scoresheet heading into the dressing room.
An improved start to the second 45 ensued, with substitutes Louis Zecevic John and Andre Harriman-Annous adding some alternative attacking options. Bailey-Joseph halved the deficit with a deserved goal, as he was able to steer the ball home through a packed City box.
We kept City at bay throughout large spells of the second half, with Porter first denying Tyrone Samba a hat-trick with a terrific dive, before tipping substitute Finlay Gorman's effort to safety. However, there would be time for a Manchester City fifth, through Xavier Parker, who netted inside the far post for what was our last FA Youth Cup action of the season.
What’s next
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Our under-18s will now return to U18 Premier League South action with a trip to Southampton on Saturday, January 24.
Kick-off at Staplewood Training Ground is scheduled for 12pm (UK time).
LINE Ups
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**Manchester City:** Hudson, Headley, Drake, Courtman (Tevenan 77), Braithwaite, Miles, Dunbar-McDonald (Gorman 80), F. Samba, Midwood (Parker 66), T. Samba (Whisker 90+4), Heskey.
**Subs not used:** Barrett, Alvardo, Oliver.
**Arsenal XI:** Porter, Owusu-Gyasi (Pedro 66), Ogunnaike, Onyekachukwu, Hamill, Ibrahim (Hashi 76), Bailey-Joseph, Murisa (Zecevic John 45), O'Neill, Julienne, Thompson (Harriman-Annous 58).
**Subs not used:** Talbot, Chapman, Marciniak.
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