U18 Report: Saints 3-0 Man City

An own goal in the opening 15 minutes gifted Saints an early lead at Staplewood Campus, before a superb Will Smallbone free-kick and Kornelius Hansen strike confirmed the win.

Craig Fleming’s men started the brighter of the two sides and fashioned their opening chance after just a few minutes.

Jonathan Afolabi broke free down the left and drilled a low ball across the penalty area to Michael Obafemi, but the Irish forward was unable to keep his strike down.

The breakthrough then came on 14 minutes, albeit through somewhat fortuitous circumstances, as a mix-up across the City backline saw Yeboah Amankwah’s back pass elude ‘keeper Pawal Sokol and roll straight into an empty net.

Despite falling behind, the visitors were quick to respond and Alex Cull did superbly well at the other end to get down low and deny Keyendrah Simmoinds in a one-on-one encounter from close range.

Smallbone then doubled the advantage on the half-hour mark. After winning a free-kick from 30 yards out the midfielder bent the set piece past everybody in the area, including City ‘keeper Sokol, and into the far corner of the net.

Ten minutes from the interval Kornelius Hansen almost further extended the lead. The Norway midfielder shifted the ball into space and rifled a fine 25-yard effort at goal, only for Sokol to tip the ball onto the crossbar.

Rowan McDonald so nearly pulled one back for the visitors in the closing minutes of the first half, as he crashed a volley past Cull’s far post. But Saints were able to maintain their two-goal advantage heading into the break.

Hansen did then net the third of the afternoon on 58 minutes. Having picked up a short free-kick on the left corner the area he skipped inside and unleashed a strike across goal and into the bottom corner to make it 3-0.

The Norwegian then almost turned provider shortly after as his corner from the right found Harlem Hale in plenty of space at the far post, but the winger’s header bounced into the ground and over the crossbar.

The Saints youngsters should have been awarded a spot kick on 75 minutes. Obafemi was first to latch onto a loose ball inside the penalty area and was hauled down by Sokol, but the referee waved play on.

Despite being denied the opportunity to further extend their lead from the spot, Fleming’s men stood firm to maintain their clean sheet and complete an impressive start to their Premier League Cup campaign.