Under-18s' run goes on after Boro draw

Our Under-18s were driving home for Christmas on Saturday with a spot in the quarter-finals of the Under-18 Premier League Cup safely in the bag after twice coming back from a goal down to draw 2-2 at 10-man Middlesbrough.

Unbeaten in all domestic competitions this season, Matt Wells’ side ensured that streak will continue into 2019 after goals from Rodel Richards and Rayan Clarke secured the point needed to progress to the knockout stages at Rockliffe Park. With both sides having won their first two games in Group A, Boro finished above us on goal difference but we're through as one of the two best second-placed teams across the six groups, having amassed seven points in total.

Off the back of a gruelling FA Youth Cup tie at Millwall on Monday, which we won 2-1 after extra time, Matt rotated his squad and was pleased with the efforts of those who came into the starting XI. Among them was goalkeeper Kacper Kurylowicz, who made some good stops on his first competitive appearance at this level.

Chay Cooper headed over the bar from Dilan Markanday's cross as an early chance went begging for us, but Daniel Dodds finished off a counter-attack to give the hosts a 21st-minute lead. However, we upped our game and equalised on the half-hour mark as Elliot Thorpe fed the ball through for Richards, who exhibited some tidy footwork before finding the back of the net.

Thorpe subsequently put one wide while Markanday found a couple of openings, but couldn’t take advantage. He did produce a good stop from the Boro goalkeeper shortly before the break, with Richards unable to capitalise on the rebound.

We paid for a slow start to the second period. After failing to clear our lines from a corner, Alberto Balde blasted in a volley from outside the box to restore his team’s advantage on 63 minutes. But back we came once more as Markanday passed to substitute Clarke and he cut in off the left and picked out the top corner with an equally eye-catching strike on 78 minutes. A late challenge on Clarke from Cain Sykes saw the Boro man sent off for a second bookable offence, but despite sending a number of crosses into the box in the latter stages, we couldn't find a winner.

Key moment

Clarke’s stunning strike got us back into the game after a stuttering start to the second half. Trailing as we entered the last 12 minutes, the fast-moving wide man came in off the flank and curled superbly into the top corner to make it 2-2, ensuring our unbeaten run goes on into the New Year.

“Credit to Rayan because he’s had a brilliant week, starting for the Development Squad in the Checkatrade Trophy and then carrying that into this game,” said Under-18s Coach Matt. “He made a really good impact off the bench with a terrific goal, cutting inside and scoring, as we've seen a number of times this season.”

Coach’s view

Top of the Under-18 Premier League, into round four of the FA Youth Cup and now safely through to the knockout stages of the Under-18 Premier League Cup, not to mention many of his players contributing to our progress in the Under-19 UEFA Youth League, Matt was pleased with the character shown after the squad made the long trip north.

“The boys who came into the side all trained extremely well this week,” he said. “Kacper in particular has been excellent in training this week and he deserved to start the game and yet again, we've seen substitutes coming off the bench and making a massive impact. That shows the mentality of the group, because with another late-ish goal we've shown that we don't want to be beaten and we hate losing. In the last week with the Millwall game and again today, we've dipped in our overall performance levels but that highlights other areas in teams of the strength of our mentality and character.

“We dominated with the ball throughout but Middlesbrough were very tough and compact. The spaces were hard to find and they were aggressively counter-attacking on any mistakes that we made so we had to be very precise with our play. We created enough chances but conceded on the break, which gave them a lift, but credit to the players for our response, which included an outstanding individual goal from RJ (Richards) after a good ball through from Elliot Thorpe. In the second half, we started slowly. Boro weren't creating too many chances but they scored on the second phase from a corner with an unbelievable strike from distance on the volley. It was a great goal from Rayan to equalise, though, and despite our efforts against 10 men, we didn’t quite produce enough to win.

“Again, credit to the team for remaining unbeaten, though. It’s a terrific achievement and now we’ve got a good chance to rest and recuperate over Christmas and the New Year. It’s important, though, that we use the time to review, reflect and refocus and come back with some New Year’s resolutions as to how we want the first few weeks of 2019 to look.”

Our Under-18s return to action with a home league fixture against Swansea City on Saturday 5 January.