 Twice during a fragmented first half the U's took the lead, only to be pegged back by efforts from Justin Hazell and Marcus Milner. Then, after Harry Crawford had put Blues in front for the first time within a minute of the restart, Michael Rafter's penalty appeared to have gained a share of the spoils for the hosts. Instead, Asante's own spot-kick, coming after goalkeeper Andrew Dickey had been dismissed, earned the Shrimpers a 4-3 win.
Southend welcomed Justin Hazell back to the starting line-up after his long injury lay-off, but it was Colchester who attacked strongly during the opening exchanges. At the fulcrum of their attack was a familiar face in Freddy Lapado; the young forward turned down a scholarship with Blues in the summer, and was playing for the north Essex club on work experience from Tottenham Hotspur.
Within four minutes, Lapado had drawn a full-length save out of Brandon Hall in the Southend goal thanks to a cleanly struck shot from the edge of the penalty area. Whilst he managed to save that effort, Hall could do nothing when Craig Arnott chipped Brendan Kiernan's flag-kick into the top right-hand corner.
Blues' first attempts on goal came from a fizzing Asante cross, Milner seeing his shot blocked before Hazell nodded the follow-up wide. After ten minutes, the Seasiders were level as another low centre - this time from Harry Crawford - found the near-post run of Hazell, who tapped into the bottom left-hand corner from close range. Crawford should have put the visitors in front on the quarter-of-an-hour mark when Asante seized on Trevor Ajim's short back-pass to square unselfishly, but his finish eluded him and the ball flew over the crossbar.
Generally, Southend were surrendering possession too willingly whilst also conceding a succession of free-kicks around their own penalty area, with Hall saving one such set-piece well when Rafter curled goalwards.
Colchester were back in front in the 20th minute thanks to Lapado. The youngster, who made a solitary substitute appearance for the Shrimpers' Under-18 side at Leyton Orient last April, received the ball on the edge of the area and somehow managed to squeeze his shot underneath Hall.
A scrappy period developed, although Southend importantly restored parity just three minutes before half-time. Colchester had generally been breaking down Blues' attacks well, but on this occasion John Owinja cut inside from the right flank before picking out Milner in a more advanced possession, and the wide man hit a deflected shot into the net from 20 yards.
The south Essex side took the lead just 49 seconds after the restart. Duran Reynolds was the provider with a sweeping ball from marginally inside his own half and Crawford, having made an excellent diagonal run, completed the move by shooting past Dickey.
Asante and Owinja both fired narrowly wide, whilst a fine move culminated with that pair combining to set up Hazell, whose sliding finish was deflected wide. At the other end, Lapado sliced horribly off-target when faced with just Hall to beat from Bradley Hamilton's left-wing cross.
Dickey made a magnificent double-save from point-blank range midway through the second half as first Hazell and then Asante were denied at the end of Southend's best move of the game.
Despite generally having improved their performance after the interval, the Shrimpers were pegged back 18 minutes from time when Owinja tripped Rafter as the forward controlled Jordan Sanderson's cross-field pass. The front man brushed himself down to slam the penalty into the net.
It took less than four minutes for Blues to restore their lead. Ade Osifuwa's through-ball was latched onto by Asante, who took it past Dickey in a flash. With the second-year scholar bearing down on goal, the custodian had no choice but to bring him down. The referee showed Dickey the red card, but his replacement Shane Cusack could not stop Asante's stroked penalty.
Milner was soon rampaging down the right wing before chipping Cusack and was unfortunate to see his shot bounce back off of the crossbar. That would have confirmed Southend's success with twelve minutes remaining, but instead they were indebted to Hall, who produced a fingertip save to deny Rafter in the final minute to secure the three points.
Southend United U18s: Brandon Hall; John Owinja, Callum Whittaker, Duran Reynolds, Adetayo Osifuwa; Marcus Milner, Jamie Dennis (George Smith 88), Merrick James-Lewis, Justin Hazell (Julian Okai 80); Kyle Asante (Duane Ofon-Acheampong 86), Harry Crawford. Substitutes not used: Alex Woodyard, Akim Abiola-Daramola. Goals: Hazell (11), Milner (42), Crawford (46), Asante (75pen).
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 |
League