Under-18s come from behind to earn a draw at Palace

Ellis Lehane's second-half penalty earned our Under-18s a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace in the Under-18 Premier League on Saturday lunchtime.

Stuart Lewis' side had to come from behind to secure a share of the spoils after Seb Williams opened the scoring just over 10 minutes into the first half.

A quiet game saw few chances for either side, and we went in behind at the break.

However, we fought our way back into the game and drew level after Harry Byrne's free-kick deflected to Lehane who was subsequently fouled in the area, with the striker firing his effort from 12 yards low and hard to the goalkeeper's right.

Our best chances to win it were denied by Marcus Hill in the Palace net, the stopper producing strong saves to deny both Miracle Adewole and then Lehane, with the teams ultimately forced to settle for a point.

The first chance of the game went our way as Ronny Moncur fired wide after just two minutes, while the next action came in our penalty area as Sam Archer was equal to Ben Casey’s effort. But Palace broke the deadlock just a minute later with a stunning strike from Williams, who fired into the top right corner from outside the box.

There were further chances for the Eagles, as Casey had another effort saved, while George King fired wide before seeing two further attempts saved before the half-hour mark.

George Feeney, meanwhile, had a powerful effort from the edge of the area blocked in what proved to be our only other chance of the half, with Palace dominating proceedings.

However, we were level just eight minutes after the restart as Byrne’s low free-kick deflected into the path of Lehane, who was brought down by goalscorer Williams inside the box. His penalty was fired powerfully towards the bottom right corner, with Hill unable to reach it.

Palace headed several efforts over from set-pieces before we saw two strong chances saved by Hill, the first from Adewole whose effort from outside the box was saved, before it took several attempts and numerous outstretched bodies to deny Lehane his second of the game on the left-hand side of the the area.

Neither side was able to carve out a clear-cut opportunity to win it in the latter stages, with the result extending our unbeaten run at this level to six games in all competitions.