U18 Report: Crystal Palace 1-4 Saints

A first half flurry powered Andrew Surman's side to their second four-goal haul in consecutive games, with a brace from Jude Daniels and Wyatt Comley securing the victory in style.

After a fairly even start in South London, Saints burst into life with three goals in the space of just four minutes that took the contest from tight to all-but-over in scintillating style.

First, Daniels opened the scoring after capitalising on a poor clearance from the hosts; George Wells intercepted the ball and slipped in his striker, who cut past a sliding challenge before bending the ball into the far corner from 12 yards out.

Two minutes later the lead was doubled as Daniels turned provider, bursting down the left wing before he pulled the ball back towards Comley, who powered an effort into the top corner from the edge of the area.

Comley secured his brace in no time at all as the 30 minute mark arrived with Saints' third goal.

Surman's side were again stronger in claiming the second ball, and this time Luke Hawe controlled a loose pass on his chest before reversing a pass through the Palace defence for Comley to chase and calmly slot into the bottom left corner.

Wyatt Comley bagged a brace in the space of two minutes (Photos: Craig Hobbs)

The scoring wasn't done there in the first half, despite an 11 minute wait for the fourth goal, as the attacking trio combined once more to devastating effect.

Hawe received the ball on halfway and found Comley, who surged forwards before finding Daniels just inside the Palace area for another composed finish into the bottom corner.

With the result already beyond doubt, the hosts were playing for pride in the second half and almost found one goal back but Hadley Clark stood firm in the Saints goal to tip over a shot from Donte Martin.

Hawe almost had a goal for himself, narrowly curling a shot over from inside the penalty area, before Clark again stood strong to deny Martin with a one-on-one chance at the other end.

Saints' clean sheet was breached in the 70th minute, as a bouncing volley from Raihaan Anderson caught out Clark and his defence.

In the closing stages some half chances followed for both sides, as the Eagles' Kayden Moses did strike the post, but any danger of a miraculous comeback remained at arms length.

The final action of the game saw the afternoon go from bad to worse for Crystal Palace captain Ajean-Ray Greaves, who received a straight red card for violent conduct.

Crystal Palace: Benetton, Baah (Owoade 59'), Greaves (c), Ogunrinde (Oritsebaw 84'), Monk (Lee 69'), Martin (Wright 84'), Moses, Bonsu-Amako, Anderson, Fasida, McDonald (Lamidi 45').

Subs not used: Speroni, Zakhari.

Goals: Anderson (70’).

Red cards: Greaves (90+6')

Southampton: Clark, Wells (Bariami 64'), Vallance, Martin, Sewell (c), Nutter (Lovatt 45'), Comley (Lemon 45'), Sainsbury, Daniels (Kuzanga 76'), Hawe, Parry (Robinson 66').

Subs not used: Moloney.

Goals: Daniels (26’, 41') Comley (28', 30').