U18 Report: Saints 3-1 Fulham

The result backs up the recent 5-1 mauling of West Ham and a respectable away draw with Chelsea, and means they consolidate their position in the top half of the Under-18s Premier League table -overcoming a disappointing end to their FA Youth Cup campaign last week. 

The perfect way to respond, Christian Norton fired Saints into a merited two-goal lead before the break, with a brace of headers, teed up by wide pairing Will Ferry and Enzo Robise.

The second was arguably the harder of the two, but the striker adjusted his body well to loop a header over Lucci Ashby-Harmond from the edge of the area.

The second period was similarly one-way traffic from the youngsters in red and white, who strengthened their standing two minutes after the restart; Dan Bartlett turning home at the back post after good work again from Robise.

Although, it wasn't all plain sailing for Paul Hardyman's side, who suffered a minor setback when Harvey Elliot despatched a well-taken free-kick in the 72nd minute. The winger bent his shot around the wall, right of centre, giving Fulham a lifeline, but ultimately did little to effect the eventual outcome.

Norton had the hosts ahead inside four minutes, latching onto a near side cross from Ferry, who had powered towards the byline before floating an inviting ball towards the run of the striker, who nodded inside the post.

And the second was scored in similar fashion to the first. Alex Jankewitz had spread the ball wide to Robise, who, after a series of step overs, beat his man down the left and stood up a delivery towards Norton, who did superbly to lift a header over Ashby-Harmond from considerable distance in the 33rd minute.

Saints stopper Alex Cull, who was a bystander for much of the encounter, was forced into a good save in the 42nd minute, making himself big and thwarting Showkat Tahir from a tight angle, giving the Fulham forward little to aim at.

Two minutes after break, Bartlett had all but secured the points for Saints. Robise had done the hard work, motoring down the left wing and firing at the Fulham upright, leaving Bartlett to mop up the spillage from Ashby-Harmond.

There was a consolation goal for Elliot 18 minutes from time, whose technique was excellent when converting a dead ball from 20 yards, but Saints had more than deserved their lead up until that point, and saw out the remainder of the tie in relative comfort.