WHAT HAPPENED
We missed out on being crowned U-18 Premier League champions on Tuesday after a 5-2 defeat by Derby County in the national final at Pride Park.
We secured the southern title last week after winning 20 of our 22 league fixtures - but this was one step too far for our youngsters, who were unable to beat the champions of the northern division.
We got off to a promising start when Ben Cottrell jinked past his marker and teed up Bukayo Saka, who opened the scoring with a clean strike.
But this sparked the hosts into life and placed us in unfamiliar territory.
For all their neat play, it was a searching long ball that brought about the Derby equaliser when Tom Smith raced off his line and failed to clear the danger, handing Archie Brown the simple task of finishing into an empty net.
We came close to restoring our lead when Trae Coyle forced Sam French into a difficult save from close range, but less than five minutes later, Morgan Whittaker gave the Rams the lead with a first-time finish from 20 yards.
Brown then went on to score his second of the evening with a fine strike from distance.
We made a promising start to the second half following the introduction of James Olayinka - but shortly after the hour mark Brown secured his hat-trick with a thumping finish into the roof of the net.
There was late drama when Saka found the bottom corner in the 82nd minute and Tyreece John-Jules won a penalty shortly afterwards, but the latter was unable to convert from 12 yards, ending any hope of a late comeback.
Whittaker then scored his second of the evening deep into stoppage time.
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