Under-18s lose out at Brighton

Three goals in a quarter-of-an-hour during a wind-swept first half did the damage as our Under-18s suffered a 4-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.

Younes Ibrahim scored direct from a corner before long-range efforts from Tyler Silsby and Henry Kasvosve both went in off the post as the home side took full advantage of the elements to build up a 3-0 lead by the half-hour mark on a challenging day at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre.

Having struggled to get forward during the first period, we improved after the break and went close on a couple of occasions before Oliver Boast’s drive was steered into his own net by Brighton’s Tate Ferdinand in the last minute of normal time. But any hopes of a dramatic late revival were dashed when Kasvosve cut in from the right and fired past Blake Irow deep into stoppage time to round off the scoring in the first of two meetings with Brighton’s Under-18s in 10 days, with a return match still to come in the FA Youth Cup on 16 December.

With that tie in mind and Tuesday’s UEFA Youth League clash with Slavia Prague fast approaching, Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr made nine changes for his first away game in charge, but it was largely the hosts who controlled proceedings in the first half and after a couple of near misses from corners, Ibrahim put another one right underneath the crossbar with the aid of the wind to give his side a 16th-minute lead. Two goals in two minutes just before the half-hour mark subsequently put them firmly in the driving seat, Silsby firing in off the near post from 22 yards out before Kasvosve cut in from the right and curled left-footed in off the far stick virtually straight afterwards.

The hard-working Boast saw a shot charged down and then couldn’t quite reach a second ball in the box on the stretch after Armend Muslika’s free-kick was blocked by the wall as we began to make inroads in the run-up to half-time, before Muslika – twice – and Jamel Beggs went close in the second period.

We didn’t manage to use the weather conditions to our advantage as much as the Seagulls did in the first half but were more of a threat with some slick passages of play. Coach Jamie introduced three Under-16s players off the bench and all made a positive impact, Solomon Olajide denied a goal with his first touch when his angled shot was diverted behind at the near post and Courtney Coffi-Smith seeing a low shot saved before making a useful contribution in the build-up to our goal on 90 minutes, Boast’s angled drive flying inside the near post off Ferdinand. Coffi-Smith and Oscar Sandiford also had a hand in a disallowed second goal for Boast in the final moments of the game, but a fourth for Brighton just beforehand through Kasvosve meant it was the hosts who finished with a flourish.

‘We spoke about trying to turn the momentum in our favour’

Coach Jamie felt the players will have learned a lot from a tough outing on the south coast: “It was a game where we needed to deal with the conditions slightly better – it was difficult playing into that wind in the first half, so it’s part of a learning piece for our boys,” he reflected.

“I felt that in the middle stages of the first half, Brighton managed to get some momentum with the wind and in those moments we just need to understand how to flip the momentum and deal with the conditions slightly better. I felt there were spells in the first half where we showed some really good football once we got up the pitch and played in the middle areas which was pleasing – that was the plan – but it was just getting to that middle section of the pitch where we found it hard to get out at times.

“The message at half-time was to improve on our duels, we needed to understand and find ways to get out from goal-kicks a little bit better and we spoke about trying to turn the momentum in our favour. Unfortunately it took us a bit too long to score, at that stage we were pushing and obviously you go on to concede a fourth but I thought the Under-16s who came on did really well, they made a positive impact and it was also good for some of our lads who haven’t played in a little bit to get 90 minutes into their legs ahead of a big couple of weeks.”