Fleetwood Town’s Development Squad were inches away from taking all three points from their clash with league-leaders Birmingham City, which ended in a 1-1 draw at St Andrew’s on Wednesday afternoon.
Much like the Under-18s fixture from Tuesday morning, this was a game of few chances, with most of the action taking place in the first half of the game. Town started off the chances eight minutes in when Billy Jones played a through ball to Tommy Lonergan, who still had a lot to do, as he cut past his marker, but drilled his shot wide of the near post.
Five minutes later, it was Lonergan again in the thick of the action as he latched onto a poor pass at the back by the hosts, turned and stepped towards goal and forced a diving near post save from the keeper.
Against the run of play, Birmingham managed to take the lead midway through the first half as they played a lofted set-piece into Town’s box, with the backline unable to clear it on two occasions before a forward was able to nod home at the back post from close range, making it 1-0 on the day.
Lonergan finally got his goal after all his efforts earlier in the game and it came from brilliant work by Pharrell Brown. The winger picked up a loose ball in the middle of the park and drove towards goal, he then tried his luck with the defender blocking the chance but, Lonergan was in the middle and tapped it in from a couple of yards out.
Not much action took place in the second half until the dying embers of the game when, in the 99th minute, Sam Glenfield thought he had won the tie for Fleetwood when he chested down a clearance 20 yards before half-volleying the ball towards goal, hitting the outside of the post to Birmingham’s relief.
After notching a brilliant point against top-of-the-table, the young Cods will now switch their focus to their Sheffield Wednesday clash on Friday afternoon, which will take place at 1pm at Poolfoot Farm.
Town XI: McMullan (GK), Jones, Wright-Ocana, Hoyle, Johnson (C), Potter (Trialist 70’), Wilson (Fishburn 70’), Glenfield, Lonergan (Williams 70’), Brown, White.