U18 Preview: Saints vs Chelsea
Southampton’s youngsters will be looking to finish the regular season in style after being crowned Under-18 Premier League South champions on Wednesday.
Saints vs Chelsea
Under-18s Premier League
Staplewood Campus
Saturday 7th May, 11am BST
With the title of Under-18 Premier League South champions already to their name, Saints’ youngsters could cap off an exceptional season with another thrilling clash expected at Staplewood Campus on Saturday.
It was a tense opening half when the reds hosted Reading in midweek, with neither side managing to break the deadlock until the 65th minute.
Calm and collected, Diamond Edwards perfectly executed a spectacular goal to give Saints the advantage, with an equally impressive celebration to match.
Buoyed by Edwards’ opener, Kamari Doyle added to Saints’ tally just two minutes later before Rylee Wright capped off a wonderful day at Staplewood with a goal in the 94th minute.
Chelsea had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace in their last fixture, with Palace coming from behind twice before half-time to secure a point.
With the title already wrapped up, Saints will be using Saturday’s game to build momentum for their Under-18 Premier League final match to take place against Manchester City.
The visitors currently sit fifth in the standings but could rise as high as third with victory on the south coast.
Saints emerged 3-0 victors when they visited Coham training centre just under a month ago.
With Luke Pearce and Dom Ballard finding the back of the net in the opening 20 minutes, Saints went into the break with an important lead on their road to Under-18 Premier League South victory.
Not satisfied with the one goal, Pearce went on to score another in the second half to ensure all three points fell the way of Carl Martin’s side on a hugely successful midweek battle in the capital.
“We’ve now got an extension to our season as we’ve got a game against Man City in the play-off.” Under-18s Individual Coach Mikey Harris confirmed. “Chelsea is another step towards that final.
“We’re also very fortunate that we've got a trip to go on the week after that, so that will be our preparation for the final and we want to be as competitive as we can and test ourselves against arguably the best academy in the country.”
