Cardiff City suffered a heartbreak defeat in the Professional Development League Under-15 Floodlit Cup.
The young Bluebirds had a player sent off when they were leading 1-0 and visitors West Bromwich Albion equalised from the resulting spot-kick.
Then, in the closing seconds, Albion fired a winning goal after Cardiff had spurned a series of chances to clear the danger at Barry’s Jenner Park.
It looked a harsh decision by referee Josh Taylor (Barry) to show Ethan Vaughn a red card during the second half.
Vaughn appeared to tug on the shirt of an Albion player on the edge of the penalty area, but it looked a minor incident. The forward kept running and the danger was cut out by another Cardiff defender covering.
The decision to produce red was because the Albion man was deemed to be through on goal, but the appearance of Vaughn’s team-mate puts that in real doubt.
Vaughn can certainly feel hard done by, but Cardiff must accept responsibility for this defeat.
They could and should have stopped Albion’s late attack well before a beautifully struck shot was curled beyond diving goalkeeper Leo Satherly and into the far corner.
Cardiff can reflect with satisfaction on their overall performance, but coach Dane Facey was clearly furious at the poor defensive work which led to West Brom’s second goal.
Eli King caught the eye with some well-timed forward runs and he slid a delicious low pass across the face of the West Brom goal and caused chaos in the visiting defence as the ball was played in behind them.
Cardiff could not scored from that attack, but a similar move worked when the ball was whipped in again and a home defender had to turn and could turn fire his attempted clearance into the top corner for an own goal.
At that stage City were looking strong, playing with intensity. Their passing and movement was excellent, while they battled hard after being reduced to 10 players.
Owen Pritchard returned to action after a lengthy spell out injured and did well in a competitive and entertaining cup clash. There was a good tempo to the match and plenty of positives, but City’s lack of game management and loss of focus near the end led to their downfall.
The Professional Development League Under-15 Floodlit Cup is a big part of the Premier League programme and designed to give players an experience of playing evening matches under floodlights.
Cardiff and West Brom are in a four-team group which also includes Swansea City and Coventry City.
This was a second fixture for the young Bluebirds following a goalless draw against the Swans at Cardiff City Stadium.
Cardiff City under-15: Leo Satherly, Ethan Vaughan, Ethan David, Jack Masrani, Cris Dignadice, Owen Pritchard, Ryan Kavanagh, Eli King, Siyabonga Ligendza, Taylor Jones, Ntazana Mayembe. Subs: Gethin Foster, Jack Jenkins, Frazer Thomas, Graham.