Monday night saw our under-21s grind out a draw against Crystal Palace in an evenly-matched and gripping Premier League 2 fixture at Meadow Park.
An ice-cold finish from Mauro Bandeira in the first half was enough to secure a well-earned point in the clash, as we remain undefeated in the league after 10 games.
What happened
It was a cagey start to the game as the rain pounded down at Meadow Park, with several early, crunching tackles setting the tone for the rest of the affair.
From the outset, Amario Cozier-Duberry caused the Crystal Palace defence significant problems down the left wing with his pace and skill, putting the ball in the side-netting several times in the first half.
The visitors soon turned the dial, forcing Hubert Graczyk to make an unbelievable save with his fingertips to deny Malcolm Ebiowei from close range. Ebiowei and Palace did eventually break the deadlock on the half-hour mark, however, with a first-time finish in the box.
Taylor Foran and Zach Awe in our backline stood firm to ensure that the visitors didn't double their advantage, with Foran making a dramatic sliding tackle across the sodden pitch to stop a Palace counter-attack.
Our Young Gunners responded well to conceding first. Left-back Elian Quesada-Thorn, who continues to prove himself in the under-21s after moving from Jack Wilshere's side, unleashed a clean strike from outside the box, forcing a good save from Goodman in the Palace goal.
Our hard work paid off shortly before the break, as Mauro Bandeira found our much-needed equaliser. Our midfielder received the ball from Jack Henry-Francis just inside the area and delicately placed his shot into the corner to make it 1-1.
The second-half began in much the same manner, with both sides looking dangerous in their attacking play. The referee opted for a free-flowing match, letting a lot of strong challenges slide, but we weathered Palace's physicality throughout.
Charles Sagoe Jr came off the bench to replace Marquinhos after an hour and immediately made his stamp on the game with creativity and decisiveness in the final third. Our winger came agonisingly close on two separate occasions only five minutes after coming on, and would have put us ahead were it not for the visiting shot-stopper.
Despite several near-misses during the eight minutes of added time - including a last-minute effort from our Gunners that was denied by the crossbar - the two well-matched sides settled for a point.
What it means
Undefeated over 10 league matches mean our under-21s sit top of Premier League 2 on 20 points, with quite a bottleneck of teams only one point behind.
Next weekend sees us take on fifth-place Everton at home in the hopes of extending our lead over the chasing pack.
Team news
Arsenal: Graczyk, Walters, Quesada-Thorn, Foran, Awe, Smith (C), Marquinhos (Sagoe Jr, 60), Bandeira, Butler-Oyedeji (Edwards, 85), Henry-Francis, Cozier-Duberry
Substitutes not used: Rojas, Ibrahim, Cirjan
Crystal Palace: Goodman, Imray (Rodney, 71), Balmer, Ferguson (Grehan, 45), Adaramola, Ozoh, Wells-Morrison, Phillips, Omilabu, Gordon, Ebiowei (Akinwale, 71)
Substitutes not used: Mooney, Ola-Adebomi
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