Match report: West Brom 1-3 Arsenal U-18s

1 3

WHAT HAPPENED

We returning to winning ways in the U-18 Premier League on Saturday as we secured a comfortable 3-1 victory at West Brom.

Ken Gillard’s side bounced back from last week’s defeat to Brighton in impressive style against the Baggies, delivering a controlled and mature performance.

The hosts made a strong start to the game as they adopted a direct approach, and it paid off after just seven minutes with Sam Ohaha pouncing on a failed clearance to find the back of the net.

This didn’t dent our confidence, though, and on the half-hour mark we drew level as Luke Plange received the ball with his back to goal, rolled his marker and fired a curling effort into the bottom corner.

Khayon Edwards then went on to win a free-kick 30 yards from goal in a dangerous position. Marcelo Flores stepped up to take it and his whipped delivery forced Lino Sousa into a clearance, but his header inadvertently beat Jamie Emery and handed us the lead, completely our comeback in just 60 seconds.

The hosts had a late chance to equalise on the stroke of half-time, but Hubert Graczyk produced a fine save to deny Jacob Shephard’s header inside the area.

We continued to dominate after the restart and Plange made it three on the hour mark, climbing high inside the area to convert Mauro Bandeira’s looping delivery.

West Brom came close to reducing the deficit with chances for Ethan Ingram and Shephard, but once again Graczyk was well positioned to clear the danger and we secured all three points.