U21 Report: Sutton Utd 4-1 Saints
Southampton Under-21s ended their National League Cup campaign with a 4-1 defeat against Sutton United on Tuesday evening.
Sutton took an early lead through Lewis Simper, but a superbly worked equaliser from Sutura Kakay put Saints level.
The hosts went ahead on 57 minutes when Kai Jennings scored, and then sealed their win late in stoppage time through Brandon Njoku and Mohammad Dabre goals.
Sutton went close in just the third minute when a neat move saw Simper force a save onto the post from Saints goalkeeper Hugo Fisher.
Simper did break the deadlock soon after though, in the ninth minute, when the ball was cut back to him on the edge of the Saints area and he drilled home a low strike inside the near post.
Saints responded with a couple of openings of their own, as Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh dragged a shot wide before Baylee Dipepa had an effort blocked in the next attack.
On his first Under-21s start, Hansel Adjei-Afriyie was next to go close for Adam Lallana’s visitors in South London when he met a cross stood up to the back post but could only head over the crossbar.
Saints would not have wanted to go 2-0 down early on and Fisher was forced into two more saves to deny David Ogbonna and Simper in quick succession.
With just a one goal deficit, Saints found their excellent equaliser on just before the half hour when O’Brien-Whitmarsh dummied Dipepa’s ball into the Sutton box, allowing Kakay to find the far corner of the net with a neat finish.
Both sides had promising moves before the half time interval but the contest remained level at 1-1.
After the break, Sutton went closest to grabbing the lead again when Charlie Bell curled over the bar before Kane Crichlow shot straight at Fisher.
Jennings made use of his side’s momentum in the game though when he put the National League side 2-1 ahead, seizing on a loose pass at the back and placing home a simple finish.
A good response and a fresh injection of substitutes off of the bench gave Saints hope of getting something back again; Nick Oyekunle thought he had squeezed home an equaliser as the game headed into its final quarter, but his left-footed strike from outside the box was well kept out by Jack Sims.
Despite this, Sutton were able to confirm their win with two late goals from Njoku and Dabre in stoppage time.
Saints end their National League Cup campaign with a penalty win over Aldershot Town and losses against Truro City, Woking and Sutton United, but will have gained plenty from coming up against senior opposition.
The youngsters are next in action on Tuesday 2nd December when they host Monaco in the Premier League International Cup, with kick off at the Silverlake Stadium set for 7pm.
Sutton United: Sims, Simper (Dabre 57'), Vaz (Reeves (89'), Tizzard, Taylor, Jones, Ogbonna (Eccleston 57'), Crichlow, Jennings (Muller 66'), Njoku, Bell.
Subs: Reid, Pruti, Urpens.
Goals: Simper (9'), Jennings (57'), Njoku (90+4'), Dabre (90+6')
Yellow cards: Taylor, Jones, Njoku.
Saints: Fisher, Adjei-Afriyie, Awe (Moore 74'), Dobson-Ventura, Okunola, Sillah Dibaga (Gathercole 66'), Williams, Kakay (Merry (66'), O'Brien-Whitmarsh (Rohart-Brown 66'), Oyekunle, Dipepa (Akachukwu 57').
Subs: Moody, Whittaker.
Goals: Kakay (28').
