 | Southend United 1 Arsenal 0 | |
In a match consisting of two periods of half-an-hour, the Shrimpers produced a fine first half defensive display to keep the scoreline level going into the break before second-year forward Kyle Asante delivered a 44th-minute winner to help claim the notable scalp.
"We said that if we could get to half-time and it was still 0-0, then we had a chance, and Kyle Asante showed real composure for the goal. It's the third time during pre-season that he has rounded a goalkeeper to finish like that," said Head of Youth Ricky Duncan after the match.
Blues' Youths were without injured duo Callum Whittaker and Justin Hazell, but otherwise fielded a full-strength Under-18 team that counted Medi Abalimba amongst the substitutes. Midfielder Merrick James-Lewis, who has appeared for the first-team in friendlies at Great Wakering Rovers and Witham Town this season, took the captain's armband.
Arsenal, coached by former Gunners defender Steve Bould, included four players from the squad that lifted the F.A. Youth Cup at Anfield in May, plus Luke Freeman, a January 2008 acquisition from Gillingham, where he had become the youngest-ever player to appear in the 'proper' stages of the F.A. Cup at just 15 years and 233 days in November 2007.
It was one of those Youth Cup talents, Conor Henderson, who first tested new Southend goalkeeper Daniel Bentley, himself a former trainee at the Premier League club's Hale End Academy, with a stinging thirty-yard drive on eight minutes.
Centre-halves Duran Reynolds and Adetayo Osifuwa had to undertake a lot of courageous defending during the opening twenty minutes, often making important blocks to stop the visitors unlocking the back-line. When they were defeated in the 21st minute, Bentley saved well from Luke Ayling after a one-two with Benik Afobe.
Henderson was the stand-out player of the opening period, and he dispossessed Jamie Dennis to set Freeman away five minutes before half-time. However, the midfielder-cum-right-back was not to be beaten easily, and threw himself into a perfectly-timed challenge to win the ball back from the forward just inside the penalty area.
The first period closed with Roarie Deacon slashing Freeman's pass into the side-netting and Bentley clambering off of his line to claim the ball at Freeman's feet.
"We've worked all week on this performance, dropping deep and letting Arsenal have the ball," Duncan revealed. "The idea was for us to be solid and be strong and then in the second half we could free ourselves and play a little bit more."
The game-plan was expertly devised, even though the Gunners again threatened early in the second half, with Freeman glancing Deacon's cross past the far post and Afobe nodding into Bentley's gloves from Sam Byles' centre.
The first hint that Southend were about to pounce came five minutes after the interval when James Stevens' quickly-taken free-kick ended with Harry Crawford seeing his shot charged down at close quarters. Crawford then crashed a long-range effort off target before Jamie Dennis grazed the top of the crossbar with a thirty-yard drive from the right.
Henderson's curling 43rd-minute set-piece was well-collected by Bentley low to his left, but by that time Asante had already delivered a message that he was to be feared. The striker, nicknamed 'Bullet' due to his pace, hared past Byles before fizzing a low effort across the face of goal.
Minutes later, he had made no mistake. The goal was completely of Asante's own making as he charged down Byles' attempted clearance before chipping the ball confidently over goalkeeper Sean McDermott and eluding the attentions of Ayling to strike firmly into the empty net.
"At half-time Ricky Duncan just said keeping working hard and you'll get your chance. When it came, I took it, and just stayed composed. I was just thinking let me put this in," the former Millwall trainee recollected.
Boosted by their advantage, the young Shrimpers attacked with renewed vigour, substitute Abalimba threading the ball through to Julian Okai in the inside-left channel, only for the winger to see his shot pawed away by McDermott.
A swathe of replacements followed, but Blues held firm, with Deacon coming closest to levelling in stoppage time by lobbing the ball over Teddy Nesbitt and slashing over the crossbar from an acute angle.
"It's not often you get to beat Arsenal," grinned Duncan. "There's a great team spirit here, and this result shows again that we are going in the right direction."
Southend United U18s: Daniel Bentley; Jamie Dennis (Kane Ferdinand 56), Adetayo Osifuwa, Duran Reynolds, Teddy Nesbitt; Marcus Milner (George Smith 52), Merrick James-Lewis, James Stevens (Medi Abalimba 42), Julian Okai (Charlie Morgan 52); Harry Crawford; Kyle Asante (Rhys Mackay 60+1).
Substitute not used: John Owinja.
Goal: Asante (44).
Arsenal U18s: Sean McDermott; Sam Byles, Ignasi Miquel Luke Ayling, Cedric Evina; Chuks Aneke (Jernade Meade 52), Oguzhan Ozyakup, Conor Henderson, Roarie Deacon; Benik Afobe, Luke Freeman.
Substitutes not used: James Shea, George Brislen-Hall, Jordan Wynter, Rhema Obed.
One-day tickets for the second day of the Toomey Trophy, which features the third/fourth-place play-off between Arsenal and Fulham at 11:30am and the final, between Southend United and Everton, at 3:30pm, are available from the club on the day priced at £10 for adults, £5 for concessions and £1 for children. All proceeds go to the club's Youth Department.
Full interviews with Head of Youth Ricky Duncan and goalscorer Kyle Asante can be found on the club's official website: www.southendunited.co.uk
| Everton 2 Fulham 1 | |
A brace from central defender Aristote Nsiala handed Everton victory in the opening match of the Toomey Trophy with a 2-1 win over Premier Academy League rivals Fulham.
Nsiala struck either side of Paudie Quinn's 12th-minute effort to help his team to a deserved success and a place in the final of the competition at 3:30pm on Sunday afternoon.
It had been the Cottagers who had made the brighter start to proceedings as Richard Peniket drilled a low shot into the side-netting in just the second minute. However, with the help of former Southend United youngster Femi Orenuga, Everton soon came into their own, opening the scoring after a prolonged attack in the eighth minute of the match.
Tom Donegan had already delivered one near post corner onto the head of Karl Sheppard, who saw his attempt palmed around the upright by custodian Marcus Bettinelli, when he stepped up to the corner quadrant again. This time his right-footed flag-kick was met by Nsiala, who powered a header past the goalkeeper from close range.
The lead lasted a mere four minutes, with Nsiala involved for the wrong reasons on this occasion. A pumped ball forwards saw indecision between the strong-built centre-half and his 'keeper, Adam Davies. As a result, the loose ball fell to Quinn, who turned home into an unguarded net.
Orenuga set Sheppard through seconds later as the Toffees responded immediately, but the forward could only direct his daisy-cutting shot across the face of goal. At the other end, Davies raced out of his area to attempt a clearance, only to clatter a defender, and found himself replaced by Connor Roberts less than a quarter-of-an-hour into the encounter.
Many of the Liverpudlians' attacks were directed down the right-hand flank, with Orenuga at the heart of many. His centre was glanced wide by Hallam Hope whilst in the 24th minute Sheppard nodded Jordan Barrow's cross over.
After Moses Barnett had curled a free-kick just over, Everton were indebted to Roberts, who made a fine pair of saves to maintain parity. Having managed to parry out Peniket's effort, he was soon drawn into another low save as Courtney Harris darted in from the right-wing.
The Blues were back in front less than two minutes after half-time. Again Donegan was the provider, swinging a cross to the back-post where Nsiala stooped low to direct another header into the net, despite Bettinelli getting a strong hand to the ball.
The shotstopper was called into action to save at the feet of Hope after Orenuga had again supplied a defence-splitting pass, whilst Roberts was equal to Harris' half-volley at the other end.
With a quarter-of-an-hour left, Orenuga's chance to score in the goal that he had eyed as a late substitute in the Shrimpers' F.A. Cup second round victory over Luton Town last season arrived. Bettinelli denied Hope at the striker's feet, but the ball fell to the midfielder, who sent a lob spinning goalwards, only for his lofted attempt to drift onto the roof of the net.
A frenetic final ten minutes followed as the Londoners sought an equaliser, Roberts called into an excellent save with his feet when Aaron Scott latched onto a Keanu Marsh-Brown through-ball. Even though substitute goalkeeper James Dunn came up for an injury time corner, Fulham were consigned to a place in the third/fourth-place play-off on Sunday morning by a 2-1 defeat.
Everton U18s: Adam Davies (Connor Roberts 14), Jordan Barrow, Moses Barnett, Aristote Nsiala, Johan Hammar, Gerard Kinsella, Femi Orenuga, Tom Donegan, Hallam Hope (Luke Dobie 50), Karl Sheppard, Anton Forrester (Jon Nolan 37 (Daniel Murphy 60+4)).
Substitute not used: Adam Cummins.
Goals: Nsiala (8, 32).
Fulham U18s: Marcus Bettinelli (James Dunn 49), Keanu Marsh-Brown, Lewis Thomas, Jack Dean (Rhys Paul 44), Ollie Monguel, Aaron Pierre (Joshua Pritchard 44), Courtney Harris, Reece Jones, Richard Peniket, Paudie Quinn (Albert Owusu 47), Aaron Scott (Jonathan Cosgrove 51).
Substitutes not used: Matthew Reece, Michael Kamau, Tyrell Miller-Rodney, Charles Banya.
Goal: Quinn (12).
Thanks to the Shrimpers Trust website for the reprinting of these reports, to read all the latest updates of the Blues under-18's throughout the season go here: