Under 18s make their point
Football League Youth Alliance
Newport County 3
Oxford United 3
(Carr, Carroll, Manning)
Leon Blackmore-Such writes:
“We started well for the first ten minutes having changed our shape slightly to 4-3-3 and we went 1-0 up through Dan Carr getting forward from right back, picking up a break of the ball and finishing well
“Then for some reason we eased off a bit after going ahead and allowed them to get back into it. I’d say we still dominated a lot of the game but they got a shot from the edge of the box that made it 1-1 and seemed to deflate us for a little while. We have to deal with goals a bit better in general and will work on that.
“We got ahead again after about 40 minutes when Jordan Graham teed up Canice Carroll on the edge of the box and he side footed it past the keeper to make it 2-1 at half time. We spoke at the break about controlling the game, trying to move it side to side to create better goalscoring opportunities. For ten minutes we did that OK but Newport got level with a very good strike from about 25 yards to make it 2-2.
“A cross and a pull back gave them a 3-3 lead when their lad got space in the box with about 20 minutes to go, but we made changes and had a bit of a reshuffle.
“ Rex Mannings got forward and managed to get on the end of a Graham Bryan cross to make it 3-3, and we had a few chances from there but with about five minutes to go Newport started to get set pieces and put a little pressure on us. We defended those well and in the end it finished 3-3.
“Possession-wise we dominated but without really taking complete control of the game. We are emphasising that the mentality has to be to kill games off and be professional. It was a little disappointing after playing well not to come away with all three points.”
United
Trialist, Carr, Berry-Hargreaves, Hawtin (Mannings 74), Bryan, Carroll, Heap, Napa, Hartley (James 71), Graham, Hopkins