U18 Preview: Saints vs Norwich
Southampton’s youngsters look to retain their place at the top of the Under-18 Premier League table as they host Norwich City on Saturday.
THE MATCH
Saints vs Norwich
Under-18 Premier League
Staplewood Campus
Saturday 5 March, 11am GMT
Carl Martin’s side could make it five unbeaten in the Under-18 Premier League when they take on Norwich at Staplewood.
It was a tough contest last time out, despite being three goals to the good after just 30 minutes of play at Motpur Park.
Goals from Leon Pambou, Kamari Doyle and Sonnie Davis meant Saints had a three goal lead before Ollie Gofford pulled one back for hosts Fulham just before the break.
A tense end to proceedings followed as Oliver Sanderson reduced the deficit to just one goal with two minutes of normal time remaining, but Saints’ youngsters did enough to secure another three points on the road.
Sitting at the opposite end of the table to Saints, Norwich have won just once in the league this season with an impressive 10-man victory over Birmingham City back in November.
LAST MEETING
The two sides commenced their 2021/22 season with the reverse fixture, with Saints emerging 2-0 victors at the Lotus Training Centre last August.
Dom Ballard and Rylee Wright were both on the scoresheet as Saints claimed an impressive opening day victory to kick-start their campaign.
MANAGER’S THOUGHTS
“We had a really interesting game against Fulham last week,” reflected Under-18 Individual Coach Mikey Harris. “The performance in the first half was really strong.
“I think the boys showed a lot of resilience and character, although we would have liked a little bit more quality and a little bit more composure so that’s what we’ve been looking at this week and we’ll be hoping to put that into practice on Saturday.
“Obviously it’s nice to be at the top of the league but there’s ten games to go and as I’ve said all along this season, it’s about how we develop the principles of play and to help the boys develop as quickly as they can in line with the clubs philosophy.
“If they can do that and get results at the same time obviously that’s the ideal, but it’s very difficult to consistently win football matches for any team so we’ll enjoy it while we can and hope to keep it going as long as we can.”
