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Cardiff Schoolboys went down by a single goal to Salford Schools at Ninian Park on Saturday in the 1st leg of the English Schools FA Cup final. The boys have done fantastically well to get to the final and are still in with a chance. The second leg will be played at Old Trafford on Sunday May 7th.

Report from TotalWales.
CARDIFF Schools are aiming to over-turn their 1-0 defeat to Salford at Ninian Park, and are hoping for inspiration from Old Trafford in their return leg of the ESFA Trophy final on May 7.

The Cardiff Under-15 team this weekend made their first appearance in the schoolboys final since winning the event in 1915.

Cardiff completely dominated Salford in the first half, causing problems for their defence and keeping goalkeeper Ben Power on his toes.

Josh Blenman was outstanding for the home side, putting in a gutsy show up front and making sure he was a thorn in the side of the Manchester team’s defence.

After 10 minutes he shot down the wing and found himself one-on-one with Power, but his strong kick from just out-side the penalty box went wide.

As well as taking chances, Blenman, of Fitzalan High School, was also a good playmaker, setting up his team-mates with strong passes.

His cross to Michael Hayward left the Corpus Christi striker with a difficult job to keep the ball from the sideline, but he did well to keep it in play. His effort, though, after 25 minutes went straight to the ’keeper.

It was 0-0 at half time, but Cardiff returned to the field for the second 35-minute session knowing they had had the upper hand on their Salford opponents in the first half.

The home side began the second half well with a shot that went only slightly wide after 39 minutes.

The best chance of the game was from Blenman after 42 minutes as he hurtled towards Power.

He was unable to get away from his Salford marker though and could only shoot wide.

Cardiff defended well for the most part of the game and, unlike Power, Cardiff’s Adam Davies was hardly troubled. But it was poor defending that conceded the only goal of the game when Salford worked their way back in and began pushing more up front.

They were unlucky not to score after 65 minutes when the shot hit the top corner of the crossbar. There was no mistake for substitute Stuart Heath who looked like he would cause problems as soon as he got on the field.

He was on target after 68 minutes from

The drama continued right until the final whistle when, two minutes before time, Blenman was brought down in the box for a penalty. The chance was wasted though when Calliste shot straight into the arms of Power to leave it at 1-0.

The Cardiff boys’ are confident of success in the return leg, though.

Cardiff: A Davies; L Jones, C Hart, N Fish, M Parson, J Dupres, R Cachia, M Parkins, R Calliste, J Blenman, M Hayward.

Salford: B Power; C Jones, G McIsally, D Livesey, M Ayres, J Fillingham, S Holden, P Hard-man, J Warmington, S Lawrence.

Attendance: 472