Saints youngsters earn opening day win
Southampton’s youngsters claimed an impressive opening day victory against Norwich on Saturday to kick-off their Under-18 Premier League season.
Saints got off to a promising start at the Lotus Training Centre, with Riley Wright whipping in a tantalising ball early on but it was a touch too fast for the Saints attack.
Norwich also had their own opportunities in front of goal, with Joe Duffy’s shot flying over the crossbar as the clock approached 40 minutes.
Just moments later, Saints found a break in the game as Dom Ballard opened the scoring.
It was Norwich who came out fighting after the break searching for the all-important equaliser, but Alex Matos’ shot towards goal was denied by Gustav Lillienberg.
It didn’t take long for Saints to double their lead as Wright tapped in Reece Trueman’s deflected save.
With the momentum firmly in Saints’ favour, they were awarded a penalty upon the hour mark but Trueman denied the visitors a three-goal advantage.
After an end-to-end 25 minutes, Luke Pearce’s shot bounced narrowly wide of goal before the full time whistle was blown.
Claiming all three points on opening day. Saints will be hoping to continue their impressive start to the season as they host Birmingham City at Staplewood on Saturday.
