Southend United's Under-18 team progressed to the Southern Area Final of the Football League Youth Alliance Cup with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out victory over Stevenage after the sides were locked together at 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.
In horrid conditions at Boots & Laces, captain James Stevens, defender Louis Baucutt, midfielder Alex Woodyard and substitutes Rhys Mackay and Ryan Auger all kept their nerve to convert from twelve yards, with Luke Chambers' save from Stevenage's third spot-kick proving equally decisive.
"It was great to finally win a penalty shoot-out; I've been involved in a few during my time here in pre-season tournaments and in the FA Youth Cup and have lost them all, so to turn that around with a 100% record shows how strong this group of players is," declared Head of Youth Ricky Duncan after the match.
"It's been a hard week for the lads, and it was a hard pitch for us to play on today. Stevenage were a tough side to come up against; they knew we'd been involved in a difficult match on Monday and they worked very hard. I'm delighted to have got through," he added.
To advance to that Area Final, which will see the teenage Shrimpers face Wycombe Wanderers for the right to play in the overall Final of the competition, Blues not only had to recover from their FA Youth Cup defeat at Anfield, but also respond after going one behind to Stevenage, with George Smith providing the equaliser on the stroke of half-time.
"The way we have bounced back from Monday shows the character and spirit in the squad. I was very disappointed by some of the headlines following that game at Liverpool; we had a tremendous run to the last sixteen, and beat two Academy sides, including Derby County away, to get there, so our achievements have to be put into context," Duncan asserted.
"You just have to look at the standard of the other clubs in the last sixteen; clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, you had Middlesbrough and Chelsea and Watford in there. Our budget for a season is about £200,000; Liverpool's is £4 million, and that's without the money they spend on transfers, so that was the size of our task."
"Liverpool were a very good side, and they have players that will go on to play at the highest level, but no-one was more disappointed with the result than our squad. I've never seen a dressing room like ours after the match; all the lads were in there saying, 'We've let the fans down.' But they showed their appreciation at the end of the match, and I would like to personally thank every single one of the 300 or so supporters at Anfield for coming up and cheering us on."
Chambers was one change from Monday night as he replaced Daniel Bentley in goal, whilst Michael Hassini was another as the centre-half came into the side at the expense of Under-16s team-mate Dominic Iorfa. Lyle Della-Verde was unavailable to Duncan as he travelled with the first-team squad to Torquay United for the npower League Two clash at Plainmoor.
The match was in some doubt as heavy overnight rain combined with continued precipitation throughout the encounter but, despite the heavy conditions, Southend started extremely brightly and maintained a sharp passing game.
Blues could have taken the lead as early as the second minute as Smith raced onto a sweeping Hassini ball forward, but the Republic of Ireland Under-18 international was denied by the legs of the Stevenage goalkeeper.
At the other end, a skidding effort from 25 yards slid past Chambers' right-hand post, but generally it was the hosts who threatened in the opening exchanges, and Hicham Abdellah's close-range effort deflected wide after Duane Ofori-Acheampong had coaxed the ball into his path.
Smith miscontrolled a swinging Abdellah cross at the back post in the eleventh minute when he had the space in which to fashion a shot at goal, whilst Julian Okai saw an effort charged down when Teddy Nesbitt centred from the opposite left flank. Ofori-Acheampong then crashed a shot wide after Stevens had won a header in midfield on the quarter-hour mark.
Despite their early dominance, Southend found themselves a goal down in the 18th minute. Joe Bricknell delivered an excellent right-wing corner to the near post and, with a tall central defender rising simultaneously, forward Ade Yusuff claimed the final touch by nodding into the net.
Both Woodyard and Stevens were cautioned as the Shrimpers momentarily lost their discipline, and from a free-kick conceded by the former, Bricknell sent a 35-yard free-kick careering towards goal. In the slippery conditions, Chambers spilt the ball, but Furlonge raced back to clear off the line before Yusuff could convert.
Some neat play from Okai and Ofori-Acheampong saw Okai have another fierce attempt charged down, and Stevens smashed the follow-up straight at the 'keeper from distance, whilst on 32 minutes Blues came even closer to levelling when Smith's speculative 30-yard shot floated over the goalkeeper and onto the top of the crossbar.
Akim Daramola curled narrowly over Chambers' goal shortly afterwards, and that allowed Blues to equalise with a little over a minute remaining before half-time. An excellent move started on the right with Furlonge and Abdellah before switching to the left, where Okai beat Wilson Carvalho before looping a cross over the 'keeper for Smith to stoop low and nod into the bottom left-hand corner.
After the interval, Southend again burst out of the blocks as Ofori-Acheampong rose unmarked to head Okai's left-wing cross wide before Furlonge broke forward on the right-hand side and sent a 20-yard shot wide of the right-hand upright.
Centre-back Baucutt was unable to generate enough pace on a side-footed effort at the back post from a Stevens cross in the 56th minute, and seconds later Ofori-Acheampong was ruing his luck after rounding the Stevenage custodian from Okai's flick, only to see his resultant attempt cleared off of the line by a centre-half.
The visitors continued to defend resolutely, but they were grateful to the woodwork again for coming to their rescue midway through the half. Nesbitt's pass was wonderfully glanced in Okai's path by Smith, and the diminutive second-year saw a wicked shot tipped onto the top of the bar by the 'keeper. From Stevens' ensuing corner, Furlonge was unable to make enough contact to guide the ball into the net.
To their credit, Stevenage threw on three forwards in a bid to win the game themselves, although it was one of their existing midfielders that forced his way past Chambers, only for all four Southend defenders to get back and render the resultant cross ineffective.
Ofori-Acheampong looped a header wide from a deep Stevens free-kick before a Stevenage substitute failed to control the ball inside the six-yard box with an inviting goal in front of him seven minutes from time.
There was a dramatic conclusion to the regulation 90 minutes as Furlonge rose to nod Auger's recycled ball into the bottom right-hand corner but, like Ofori-Acheampong in the first half, his effort on target was ruled out by the assistant referee's flag. Instead, the match went straight to penalties, and Blues' perfect record, allied with Chambers' save, saw them emerge victorious.
"Today we've got to the Area Final of the Youth Alliance Cup for the first time ever in this club's history, so that's another remarkable achievement for this squad. I was very pleased with Anthony Furlonge today; he had a tough time on Monday and he bounced back today, clearing one off the goal-line, playing at right-back, moving to centre-half and he was outstanding again in both halves," Duncan concluded.
Southend United: Luke Chambers, Anthony Furlonge, Teddy Nesbitt, James Stevens, Louis Baucutt, Michael Hassini (Ryan Auger 59), Hicham Abdellah (Rhys Mackay 71), Alex Woodyard, Duane Ofori-Acheampong, George Smith, Julian Okai.
Substitutes not used: Jack Paxman, Michael Hyland, Fope Coker.
Goal: Smith (44).
Cautioned: Woodyard (20 - foul tackle), Stevens (29 - foul tackle), Abdellah (51 - foul tackle).
Thanks to the Shrimpers Trust website for the reprinting of these reports, for the Trust's own youth section, go here:
www.shrimperstrust.co.uk/home.asp?page_id=10
Football League Youth Alliance Cup Area Semi-Final