U18 Report: Saints 1-4 Fulham
Southampton Under-18s fell to a 4-1 defeat to Fulham in the Under-18s Premier League on Saturday.
Three early goals from Tom Olyott, Josh King and Callum Osmand gave the visitors a commanding lead, and they added a fourth shortly into the second half through Aaron Loupalo-Bi.
Despite a difficult afternoon, Saints stuck to the task at hand and Nick Oyekunle managed to find a late consolation when he finished well from Alejandro Rodriguez’s cross.
The first chance of the game fell to Fulham in the second minute and they duly took the opportunity to open the scoring.
A cross into the box was cleared by Saints but fell kindly to Olyott, and he stroked the ball into the far corner after striding onto the loose ball.
The visitors looked confident in the early stages and managed to double their lead shortly after through King, who fired home a low effort from just outside the area.
Alejandro Rodriguez stepped up to the U18s again. (Photos: Craig Hobbs)
It was then 3-0 on 10 minutes when Callum Osmand applied the finishing touch to a cross from right-back Bradley De Jesus.
The hosts looked to settle down into a rhythm and Oyekunle got close to a response when the ball fell to him in the box, but he could not keep his shot from going over the bar.
Home goalkeeper Dylan Moody had produced several saves in the early stages and produced another excellent stop to deny Olyott his second of the game, and the Fulham man then put the rebound well over.
Towards the end of the half, Saints almost found the net as Oyekunle again found some space to get a shot away in the area but his strike flashed across the face of goal and narrowly past the far post.
Early in the second half, the Cottagers were able to add to their lead when striker Loupalo-Bi poked home from close range.
Nick Oyekunle had chances before scoring Saints' consolation goal.
A good chance for Saints came when Oyekunle and Rodriguez combined in the box, but the latter’s close-range shot was well blocked by Fulham after he met the former’s cutback.
However, the same combination then did manage to produce a goal for the hosts when Rodriguez’s low cross was well controlled and smartly finished by Oyekunle in the box with 87 minutes on the clock.
Moody was forced into one last excellent save to stop Fulham extending their lead when he used his reflexes to palm away Ma’kel Bogle-Campbell’s shot when the forward met a ball into the box.
Saints: Moody, Okonola-Matthews (Prescott 46), Moore, Dobson-Ventura (c) (Andrews 53), Sheaf, Miles (Daley 71), Rodriguez, Williams, Oyekunle, Sesay, Robinson.
Subs not used: Upstell, Pitts.
Goals: Oyekunle 87.
Yellow cards: Rodriguez.
Fulham: Kaiser, De Jesus, Nsasi, Tabares, Gofford, Nwoko, Olyott (Al Wahid 70), King, Loupalo-Bi, Osmand, Gordon.
Subs not used: Ridgeon, Varney, Park, Bogle-Campbell.
Goals: Olyott 2, King 7, Osmand 10, Loupalo-Bi 50.
Yellow cards: Nwoko.
