Under 18s win nine-goal thriller
Chris Allen’s Youth Team were involved in an amazing game on Saturday morning, eventually beating Portsmouth 5-4 after being 4-0 up at half time.Chris told us:
“It was a fantastic game and there was some scintillating stuff but at times it was just ridiculous. The first half was great; We moved it well at pace and the front four’s movement was brilliant. They interchanged like we had worked on in training and they tore Portsmouth apart.
“We opened the scoring when Robbie Cundy, playing at right-back, put the ball in and Jordan Graham rounded the keeper to make it 1-0. Then Jordan turned the centre-half and scored from the penalty and that was 2-0. The next goal came when Muctaru Conte got a great ball in and George Jeacock scored with a header and then it went 4-0 when Robbie Cundy scored with a header from a corner.
“So we were 4-0 up at the break and we told the lads to keep doing what they were doing but beware because Portsmouth had nothing to lose and would come flying at us for the first ten minutes and give it a real go. Within two minutes we’d conceded! Then it went 4-2, 4-3 and you start to wonder what is going on.
“The next goal became crucial and to be honest Portsmouth had been throwing men forward from half time because they were four goals down. That meant we were still getting chances and in the end Josh Williams scored from a Muctaru Conte corner to make it 5-3 and give us a bit of breathing room. There was still time for it to become 5-4 but we deserved the win and the obvious lesson is never to let up.
“A special mention for Drew Ricketts who played his first game of the season after injury and for Cain McCormack who was brave in sticking his head in for a challenge and got a boot in the face which meant he had to go off at half time. Thankfully he’s OK.
“Overall this was a great game to watch and we got a positive result out of it so I’m happy enough provided we learn not to sit back and let the other team come back into matches.”
United
Stephens, Cundy, Ricketts (Cook), McCormack (C.Hawtin), Tuttle, Humphries, Diaz-Benitez, Hastings, Graham, Conte, Jeacock (Williams)