Under-18s defeated by Fulham

Our Under-18s fell to a 4-0 defeat away to Fulham in their third and final Under-18 Premier League Cup group stage game on Saturday.

Already eliminated from the competition with one point from our previous two games, we fell behind on 16 minutes, were 3-0 down at the break and Fulham added the fourth 11 minutes into the second half.

One positive was the return to action of Jordan Hackett who, having been sidelined for several weeks through injury, came on as a second-half substitute.

On a cold, wet and windy afternoon at Fulham’s Motspur Park training ground, while it was a fairly even contest in the opening exchanges between the two sides, once Jaylan Wildbore slid home the opener on 16 minutes, it was the hosts that took control. In the moments that followed, our man between the sticks Adam Hayton was called upon a number of times to prevent the Whites doubling their lead however, on 26 minutes, he could do little to stop Olly Sanderson from doing just that as the forward’s composed finish reinforced Fulham’s dominance.

That 2-0 lead quickly became three as, seven minutes later, a misplaced pass from Hayton fell to the feet of George Okkas and, with the goalkeeper off his line, the midfielder calmly lifted the ball home into an empty net to rub salt in our wounds in a tough first half.

After the break though, we started brightly and almost reduced the deficit five minutes in as a free-kick from the left was diverted towards goal, only to then cannon off the upright and bounce away. It was a chance we were made to regret not taking as shortly after, the hosts had their fourth of the afternoon with Imani Lanquedoc sliding in to convert Wildbore’s teasing ball across the six-yard box.

Changes were made soon after with the introductions of Tom Bloxham and Riley Owen, which gave us renewed energy and almost saw us pull one back, only for Xavier Benjamin to clear Max McKnight’s cross from almost under his own crossbar. Yet, we remained susceptible to Fulham’s threat on the break and almost conceded a fifth, only for Hayton to produce a smart save. And the goalkeeper continued to be kept busy in the game’s latter stages as he was required to deny Sanderson from close range before twice stopping Lemar Gordon from registering.

Amid those chances, Fulham defenders Stefan Parkes and Harvey Araujo combined to thwart Jaden Williams before Khalon Haysman sent an effort off target as we sought a breakthrough.