Donley at the double to give Under-18s victory at Reading

Jamie Donley netted either side of half-time as our Under-18s came back from a goal down to win 2-1 at Reading on Saturday.

Having squandered a couple of early opportunities, the hosts took the lead on the half-hour mark through Caylan Vickers, who fired in at the second time of asking after his initial shot hit the base of the post.

But we levelled just four minutes later, Sam Amo-Ameyaw’s cross headed home by Donley before Amo-Ameyaw himself went close, cutting in off the right flank and striking the far upright with a curling effort from 20 yards.

Donley bagged his second of the game seven minutes after the restart, forcing home from close range after a cross from the impressive Tyrese Hall, but the Royals threatened again towards the end and we needed a handful of good saves from goalkeeper Adam Hayton to make sure of the win.

The hosts carved out a couple of early openings at Bearwood Park but couldn’t make them count, Jeremiah Okine-Peters steering wide, Princewill Ehibhatiomhan’s effort well blocked by Alfie Dorrington – who was solid throughout at centre-half – and Ehibhatiomhan’s header from the resulting corner routinely saved by Hayton.

Amo-Ameyaw nearly opened the scoring for us when he shot towards the empty net but his effort was blocked in the six-yard box, before Reading hit the front when Vickers’ effort from distance came back off the post and the same player popped up again to meet the loose ball in a different area, firing in from the right angle inside the box despite Hayton getting a touch.

Parity was soon restored, though, with Donley making it look easy as he rose in the area to head Amo-Ameyaw’s right-sided cross into the net, with the latter’s teasing effort from distance grazing the upright three minutes before half-time.

Okine-Peters – twice – and Abraham Kanu had some good opportunities for Reading in the opening moments of the second half but couldn’t take advantage and we duly seized the initiative as the lively Hall got to the byline on the right, his cross taking a slight deflection before landing invitingly for Donley to bundle over the line in close proximity to his marker with 52 minutes on the clock.

We enjoyed a good amount of control after that, Riley Owen just unable to reach substitute Leo Black’s cross on the stretch at the back post, although the visitors mounted a late push for a leveller with Ehibhatiomhan putting a free header over the bar and Hayton saving smartly from Ajani Giscombe before tipping Ehibhatiomhan’s effort over, then pouncing on Troy Murray’s drive from the resulting corner as we dug in to secure the points.

‘I loved the willingness to defend’

Under-18s Coach Stuart Lewis was proud of his players after what was a hard-fought win: “I really liked the second-half performance, we had some really outstanding moments in the final third and I loved the willingness to defend, stop crosses, make blocks and track our runners – the real fundamentals of football,” he said.

“It was a tough game, both teams had spells but it was great to come out on top. In any football match, there are always moments where you have to learn to stay in the game, make blocks and do the unselfish work and I thought we were very good at that today. Adam (Hayton) made some good saves and the defenders made some good blocks at times – that side of the game is always important and we’ve shown we’ve come a long way with that this season, so that was pleasing.”

On Donley’s brace, he added: “Jamie is a real threat in the final third. In the first 20 or 25 minutes we probably wanted a bit more but then he’s popped up with an outstanding header where his timing and connection with it made it a great goal. It was a brilliant bit of one-v-one work from Sam (Amo-Ameyaw), then a great header and then it was a real poacher’s goal for his second, but he probably reflected our performance in the sense that, in the second half, he was very good at times and he deserved his two goals.”