Fleetwood Town were edged out in a thrilling 3-2 defeat by Aston Villa in their opening match of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy on Tuesday night.
The Cod Army faced a Villa side bolstered by first-team stars, including Emiliano Buendia, who had not featured since May 2023. Buendia marked his return with a brace, including a spectacular volley that gave Villa the lead before adding a second from close range.
Fleetwood had their chances in the first half, with Travis Patterson narrowly missing the target after being picked out by Sil Swinkels. Meanwhile, Oli Zych made a superb save to keep out a powerful drive from former Manchester Untied trainee Mark Helm, keeping the score level early on.
However, Villa broke the deadlock before the half-hour mark. Ross Barkley, making his first start since rejoining the club, delivered a pinpoint corner to Buendia, who volleyed home via the far post. Buendia doubled Villa’s advantage shortly after, tapping in from close range after a well-worked move down the right.
Despite trailing 2-0 at the break, Fleetwood refused to go down without a fight. The hosts pulled one back when Ronan Coughlan expertly glanced a header into the roof of the net from a Pele Smith free-kick. The equaliser came soon after when Mipo Oduebeko capitalised on a loose ball after Lamare Bogarde lost his footing, poking home to make it 2-2.
With momentum on their side, Fleetwood looked set to push for a winner, but Villa held firm. Even after Barkley and Buendia were substituted, Villa’s youngsters continued to press. Their persistence paid off in the dying minutes when Pierre slotted home the decisive goal, securing all three points for the visitors and denying Fleetwood the chance of a penalty shootout.
It was a valiant effort from Fleetwood, who themselves gave a debut to 15-year-old Reece Wilkes, but ultimately, Villa’s mix of experience and youthful energy proved too much, leaving the Cod Army to regroup ahead of their next fixture in the competition.
“I’m really proud in terms of them coming back from that (two goal deficit),” said Adam. “There’s some really good things that we need to work on and some new players getting some minutes as well which is really important for us.
“They brought a couple of first team players and it was a brilliant opportunity for our lads to go and play against that level and that quality. You saw that with the goals that they scored and the first one is a world class effort.
“Our lads went 2-0 down but they stuck at it and got rewards. A little bit of tiredness comes in at the end and we lose the game 3-2.”
Writer’s View
This didn’t go as expected – usually, the Under 21 side give the young players a chance, and the League Two side see the bonus of a possible five-figure win bonus from the competition. Instead, adam seems to have prioritised the league, and Villa have, unusually, given a couple of big names a run out. Chelsea did it a few years ago with Michy Batshuayi playing, but it certainly isn’t the norm.
Adam’s side looked a completely different outfit to the club relegated form League One last season. They’re clearly focused on an immediate return, but showed great character in a game that really deserved a better stage than a trophy so few supporters care about. They can use this as a springboard in the league, where they currently site 13th, but only five points behind leaders Gillingham.
Be the first to comment