Bristol City U23s draw with Barnsley U23s to dent charge for PDL2 South title but Sam Bell scores

Bristol City U23s drew 1-1 with Barnsley U23s on Monday afternoon as the Young Robins played their final away game of the campaign.

The result moves the West Country outfit a point further ahead of Ipswich Town but opens the door for the Tractor Boys to nick the Professional Development League 2 South title, as they have a game in hand and are two points behind.

City face Coventry City in their final match of the 2021/22 U23s campaign and will hope that the Suffolk side slip up in one of their two remaining games.

Cardiff City won 1-2 at Coventry City on Monday too, but remain three points adrift of Bristol City, who have a superior goal difference over the Bluebirds.

Barnsley took the lead through 21-year-old defender Jordan Helliwell, who scored from the edge of the area with just five minutes of the game remaining.

But 19-year-old centre-back Duncan Idehen, who came off the bench for the senior side at the weekend and who is in line for a permanent contract, won a header just two minutes later to find Sam Bell, for the Bristol City striker to net a late equaliser from close range with three minutes of regulation time remaining.

The game finished 1-1, which also included a yellow card for City’s Zac Bell as he tackled a Barnsley trialist, while Tommy Conway and Prince Henry were unable to take advantage of the openings that came their way during the match.

City now move on to face the Sky Blues but still stand a good chance of retaining their PDL2 South title that the club won in 2020/21.

Should the young Robins do that, or even finish second, they will then face a playoff game against a team from the North section of the PDL2 later in May.

Starting XI: Casa-Grande, Z Bell, Wood, Idehen, Soady, Owers, Backwell, Kadji, Henry, Conway, S Bell