City fielded a team of U19s and U17s tonight at Shepshed and a great looking bunch they are too. Some real talent out there. Not worth £5 to get in though! Shame on you Shepshed! Whose idea was that? Kinch's?!

Still, programmes were damn better quality than Northampton had managed, and the club shop was stacked to the brim with old programmes and goodies at reasonable prices.

A whopping great crowd of, ooh,a few hundred turned out to see the youngsters.

Team: Michael Price, Geraint Frowan, Ashley Lyth, David Sherman, Jonathan Ashton, Matthew Smith, Brett Darby, Robert Purdie (C), Jonathan Stevenson, Leon McSweeney, Dominic Hallowes,

Subs: James Pickford, Lee Matthews, Chris Nurse, James Butcher.

Both goals came from an on-form Jon Stevenson. One from a great cross from Frowan low and hard past the keeper, and the second a beautiful curler from 30 yards out after controlling it beautifully and lining up the shot. His only weakness is his height, he's a bit of a short arse, but that never stopped Tony Cottee I suppose.

Brett Darby did a lot of running in midfield and looked good, as did left-winger Dominic Hallowes. Leon McSweeney (forward) always puts on a good running display and Jon Ashton was solid at the back despite a nasty knock at one point. Geraint Frowan (right wing) looks like he could turn out a bit of a bargain.

The whole team put together some lovely passing and attacking play, and at times some quite aggresive tackling. The defence wasn't troubled particularly but were solid enough when tested on a couple of occasions.

A pleasant interlude to the game was a double rainbow to one end of the ground, and true to form, the ref was pretty pants.

Still, all of the youngsters look good, but all very lightweight still. It will be interesting to see which ones toughen up as they mature and make it from the Academy to the first team if any.

Think any of our academy will make it big? Tell us in the Fans Forum.