A highlight of the round one grading matches on Sunday was a convincing 2-0 win over the Stallions from City's under-16 squad.

An opening goal from Jasper Williams six minutes in gave City control which was backed up by a stellar goal from Noah Rimmer early in the second half.

Bendigo City FC technical director Nathan Claridge said the under-16 team's progression continued to show promising signs.

"They are a quality team and have been for the past few years as they've been playing together since under-12s," Claridge said.

"They just keep getting better and better.

"Under coach Ryan Pollard they've been able to continue with their strong defensive shutdowns and most recently improve their scoring ability when playing forward."

City FC's under-14 squad went down fighting to the Stallions 1-5, while the under-15 team had a 1-2 loss.

At the 64 minute mark in the under-15 match City FC was down 0-2 before Rory Burke put a goal in to get them back in the game.

However, the Stallions buckled down to deny them any more goals.

The under-18 team had a competitive challenge with a high-scoring 5-5 draw.

City FC had a commanding 3-1 lead over the Stallions at half-time, however, their opponents came back onto the pitch determined to fight back.

Stallions scored a flurry of goals to take a 3-5 lead over City FC with only minutes left on the clock.

City FC's Riley Henderson and Jarrod Dunstone were able to equalise with two goals to bring the scores back to level.

More than anything Claridge was pleased for the juniors to be back playing competitive games after what had been a tough 18 months due to lockdowns.

"We were kind of in a better position than some of the Melbourne Clubs as we are based in a regional area and were able to train last year after the season (2021) was called off," he said.

"To now have the 2022 season underway we're all pretty excited to get back into the rhythm."

City FC juniors are now preparing for round two this weekend back on home turf at Epsom Huntly Recreation Reserve where they will host Altona Magic.

Claridge said Altona was sure to put up challenging efforts across all age divisions.

"They head into this weekend after taking a clean sweep in all their round one matches against Geelong," he said.

The round two matches at Epsom commence at 10am on Sunday.

In addition, Bendigo City FC's senior teams will kick off their season this weekend.

Read more: Bendigo City Football Club fields senior team for 2022 season

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