Manchester City under-21s were at Bradford of League Two in the EFL Trophy, knowing defeat would knock them out of the competition.
Manchester City lost a battle of completely-contrasting styles to crash out of the EFL Trophy at Bradford City on Tuesday.
City exited the EFL Trophy at the group stage for the third season running, although this year has its caveats as many of the previous season's squad were sold over the summer. The Class of 2024 are a much younger group, and exit the trophy with only a penalty shoot-out win at Grimsby to their name. All three first-half goals came from the same move. They won the ball in the centre, played it behind the City defence to the lively Smith, and he scored his first two one-on-one with Murray-Jones. The second of the two went under the goalkeeper when he should have kept it out - and when he saved the third effort, Smith bundled in his hat-trick goal from the resulting corner.
Progress in the EFL Trophy was earmarked by City coaches and players at the start of the season as an area for improvement on previous campaigns, so this defeat will sting. City will now resume their Premier League 2 campaign where form is mixed amid a complete restructure of the format of the division, and look to build on a good start to the UEFA Youth League where they sit top of their group at the halfway stage.
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