Under-18s lose out at Norwich

Two goals from Errol Mundle-Smith saw our Under-18s slip to a 2-0 defeat at Norwich City on Tuesday afternoon.

Having struggled to meaningfully test Canaries goalkeeper Henry Bullen amid wet and windy conditions at the Lotus Training Centre, we fell behind after half-an-hour when striker Mundle-Smith converted from the left angle, before the same player capitalised on a defensive lapse to double the hosts’ lead nine minutes from time.

The tricky conditions were clearly a factor in a disappointing performance from Stuart Lewis’ side, as we suffered a second Under-18 Premier League defeat in four days.

Yusuf Akhamrich looked lively in the central areas at the start of the game and it was he who had our two best opportunities of the first half with just over three minutes to go until the break, first cutting in off the right and seeing his left-footed shot parried upwards by Bullen before pouncing on a loose pass to go clean through on goal a few seconds later, only to drag his shot wide with just the keeper to beat.

By that stage, though, Norwich already had the upper hand. Elliot Krasniqi made a couple of important interventions on his first appearance since the opening day of the season following his recent return from a long injury lay-off, Alex Roberts’ angled shot deflected off captain Maeson King and struck the woodwork and Callum Logan subsequently made a solid double block to deny Gabriel Forsyth before the opener arrived on the half-hour mark, Forsyth playing Mundle-Smith in behind the defence to convert from inside the area.

Half-time substitute Leo Black provided us with an added spark in midfield but we struggled to find a way through Norwich’s defence, with the hosts going close to a second shortly before the hour mark when Roberts flicked a header just wide. Another header from Toby Chilvers was cleared almost off the line by Roman Egan-Riley, with Roberts denied by Krasniqi at his near post before the hosts struck a killer second on 81 minutes. Damola Ajayi dropped back to help out in defence but was pressured off the ball on the 18-yard line by Mundle-Smith and Roberts, with the former snatching possession and firing into the net.

Ellis Lehane had gone close with a header just moments before that, but in truth there didn’t really look like being a way back for us, with Norwich threatening on a couple more occasions before our substitute Tynan Thompson fired just off-target in the dying seconds, rounding off a below-par day for the team.