Fleetwood Town's Under-18s picked up all three points after beating Coventry City's Under-18s 2-1 at Poolfoot Farm in the Professional Development League.
Goals late in the first half from Liam Roberts and Pele Smith sealed the win for Mark Yeates' side on home soil, and after being one down after five minutes, the group showed great character to turn it around.
The team featured five Under-16s, with trio Adham Slater, Pele Smith and Reece Wilkes - who recently featured for England's Under-15s in their friendly matches against Scotland and Belguim in February - all starting the match against a strong Coventry side.
The visitors Coventry started off the brightest of the two sides and really took the game to the Young Cods. They struggled to clear their lines on multiple occassions and deservidly took the lead minutes after kick-off.
Town reacted well and with the squad at hand, they dug deep and despite a few chances from the Sky Blues, it was Roberts who pulled one back with a well taken goal as time ticked closer to the half-time mark.
The winning goal came after a lovely cross-field pass was played by Jack Doherty, who found Jake Doherty. The defender sitting in at left back won the header, laid it into the path of Roberts inside the penalty area - who was later taken down by the Coventry keeper.
Young midfielder Pele Smith was the man on penalty duty, and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way by placing his shot from 12-yards to the right hand side, giving the Cods the lead at the interval.
The second half was tough, but the team in red and white battled hard and put their bodies on the line to pick up three points at Poolfoot Farm. With all five Under-16s on the pitch as the final whistle was blown, the last 45 minutes showed huge togetherness when times are tough as well as the quality these young players have within the Academy.
A superb win for the lads, and they will go again next time out against Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday 12 March at Poolfoot Farm.
Starting XI: Bellizia (GK), Cirino (C), J. Doherty, Fletcher, Eccles, Slater, Wilkes, Doherty, Daha, Smith, Roberts
Subs: Woodward (GK), Buckley, McClean, Ruocco
