Under-18s fall to opening day defeat

Two goals either side of half-time saw our Under-18s fall to a 4-0 defeat against Fulham in the opening game of the new season on Saturday.

Our west London-based opponents opened their account on 31 minutes at Motspur Park as Sylvester Jasper converted from the spot before Ollie O'Neill doubled their lead eight minutes later. Immediately after the restart, the Cottagers were 3-0 up with Jay Stansfield tapping in from close range before they added a fourth on 73 minutes with Jasper getting his second of the afternoon.

Despite the eventual scoreline, it had been an even start to the game with both sides looking to find their feet in the contest and in the new Under-18 Premier League season. However, it wasn't long before Fulham started to take charge. The opening 10 minutes saw both Luca Murphy and Stansfield go close to breaking the deadlock with both their efforts going narrowly off target. Fulham then had the ball in the net on 18 minutes, but it was ruled out for offside.

Controversy followed on the half-hour mark though as we were denied a penalty after Kion Etete appeared to have been pulled back in the box. A minute later, our opponents quickly broke and were awarded a penalty of their own. Jasper went down after contact from Marqes Muir and, once the referee pointed to the spot, the striker dusted himself down before firing the dead ball home, sending Josh Oluwayemi the wrong way.

Seven minutes later we were almost level through Etete. The forward burst through the Fulham defence before cleverly chipping onrushing goalkeeper Luca Ashby-Hammond, only to see his effort drop the wrong side of the post. Once again, immediately after that missed opportunity, our opponents broke quickly and doubled their lead. Murphy provided the assist, feeding the ball across the box and O'Neill provided the finish, tapping in from close range.

After the break, the situation did not get any better as just three minutes into the second period, the Whites had their third. Jasper was once again involved, skipping past Luis Binks before teeing up Stansfield who placed the ball past Oluwayemi.

Chances for us were at a premium. We were struggling to find that final ball and when we did find that crucial pass, goalkeeper Ashby-Hammond was there to thwart our advances. Dane Scarlett's glancing header and Harvey White’s curling free-kick were both well held by the keeper, before he reacted cleverly to prevent Nile John's deflected strike from sneaking in at his near post.

On 72 minutes, the home side added their fourth and final goal of the afternoon. Jasper was the man to provide the final touch to a quick breakaway, squeezing the ball in at the far post to get his second of the game.

In the closing stages, it was almost five. The ball found Stansfield in the middle of the box and he looked set to heap further misery on us but, in the nick of time, Oluwayemi instinctively reacted to leap across his goal and get a decisive block on the striker's effort.

Key moment

With a 2-0 deficit needing to be tackled as we came back out for the second period, to concede so soon after the restart was a damaging blow to our chances.

We needed to get ourselves back in the game but were immediately undone by some quick thinking by Jasper, who nipped around our defence before picking out the unmarked Stansfield at the far post to tap the ball in for 3-0.

Coach’s view

The post-match message was clear and simple from Under-18s Coach Matt Taylor – there is work to be done.

“The better team quite clearly won the game,” he admitted. “I think the fundamentals and the basics weren’t good enough from us, to be honest. So there is some work to do, most definitely. We’ll go through it during the week and see what we can learn from it because, ultimately, as disappointed as we are to lose the game, there will be things that we can learn. We need to remember that, while we all want to win, if we can learn something from it, we can turn a very negative feeling into something positive.”