U18 Premier League North
Leeds United U18 1 (Boast 16’)
Stoke City U18 1 (Lui 61’)
Leeds: Kenyon (GK), Lane, Bird (C), Simo, Billett, Hamilton, Vincent, Brown, Boast, Whitehead (Mills 63’), White. Subs not used: Wood (GK), Watson, Thompson, Philpott.
Stoke: Zetzen (GK), Phillips, Hines (Bardsley 67’), Giani (C), Otegbayo (Eyaife 31’), Walker, Maskall (Fearn 77’), Enabuele, Bailey (Kelly 68’), Lui, Nzau. Subs not used: Brammer (GK), Bardsley.
Venue: Thorp Arch Training Ground
Referee: Gavin Scott
Booked: Whitehead, Hamilton, Simo (Leeds)
Sent off: Bird (Leeds) Phillips (Stoke)
The points were shared between Leeds United Under-18s and Stoke City Under-18s at Thorp Arch on Saturday afternoon.
Leeds got off to a lightning-fast start when, just inside four minutes, Logan White had his first sight of goal after latching onto Josh Hamilton’s defence-splitting, diagonal pass. Lashing his effort towards goal, the strike flew narrowly wide as the Whites came agonisingly close to an early opener.
Whilst maintaining the share of possession, the hosts looked comfortable and were quick to break with the midfield duo of Lleyton Brown and Loui Whitehead linking up nicely in search of a way through the Potters’ back line.
It was a slick passage of play between the two that allowed White to call Stoke’s number one Michael Zetzen into action, but once again Rob Etherington’s side were unable to break the deadlock.
The pressure was mounting inside the opening quarter of an hour and a flurry of corners resulted in a goalmouth scramble, with both Joe Billett and Freddie Lane having efforts that were denied by a desperate Stoke defence.
The visitors didn’t heed the warning, however, and Leeds capitalised on a third corner shortly after to deservedly take the lead. This time Oliver Boast rose highest, powering his header home to give the hosts nothing less than they deserved.
There was no let up from United as they searched for a second. White was notably involved in the majority of the action; a dangerous set piece from the winger was almost bundled into the back of the net but deflected away from danger.
Approaching the 40-minute mark, the home side almost extended the lead through Lane when he rattled the crossbar on the end of a familiar pinpoint corner from White. With Zetzen rooted to the spot, it was a matter of inches which came between Etherington’s side and a two-goal cushion.
Just before the interval, Stoke imposed a threat for the first time on the afternoon as Lewis Bailey broke free beyond the Whites’ backline but was unable to alarm George Kenyon in goal, dragging his shot wide in the final action of the first half.
HALF TIME: Leeds United U18 1-0 Stoke City U18
An unchanged Leeds side emerged for the second 45, looking to maintain their dominance in the tie and grab a second.
Let-back Coban Bird unleashed a thunderous shot five minutes into the half from distance that was well saved by Zetzen, with the keeper reacting quickly to deny Harvey Vincent’s follow up shot.
Despite the hosts dominating and playing some lovely free-flowing football, Ryan Liu levelled the encounter completely against the run of play with just under 30 minutes of time remaining.
The Whites responded positively to the setback though and shortly afterwards, Boast raced through on goal after cleverly beating the offside trap.
Evading Zetzen, the number 9 seemed destined to score until a desperate challenge from a Stoke defender blocked the ball on the line superbly well.
With the clock winding down, the tie turned into a back-and-forth affair with both sides amounting half chances but creating no clear cut efforts heading into the dying stages.
The final attempt of the afternoon landed at the feet of Vincent out wide but once again Zetzen saved well, concluding what had been a busy afternoon for the Stoke goalkeeper.
Both sides were reduced to 10 late on, before referee Gavin Scott brought proceedings to a close.
FULL TIME: Leeds United U18 1-1 Stoke City U18
