U18 Premier League North
Liverpool 4 (Danns 10’, 90’, Gift 34’, Koumas 75’)
Leeds United 0
Liverpool: Mrozek (GK), Miles (C), Scanlon, Furnell-Gill (Koumas 63’), Pitt, Davidson, Young (Gift 10’), Onanuga, Figueroa (McConnell 63’), Kelly (Pennigton 79’), Danns. Subs not used: Hewitson.
Leeds: Ombang (GK), Richards (Bellet 74’), Godden, Chaplin, Toulson (C), Lopata-White, Douglas (Simo 84’), Buchan (Pickles 81’), Brown, Chambers, Vincent. Subs not used: Mahandy.
Venue: Liverpool AXA training centre
Booked: Furnell-Gill, Kelly, Scanlon, McConnell (Liverpool), Chambers (Leeds)
Ahead of their Friday night clash, Leeds came into this Premier League North fixture searching for a victory to lift them off the bottom of the table, while Liverpool were looking to make it three wins on the bounce.
It didn’t take the game long to ignite, after just three minutes the home side produced a fast-flowing counterattack that saw Keyrol Figueroa play a low ball across the box and the on-rushing Darryl Ombang collided with Ranel Young, leaving the referee no choice but to point to the spot.
After a pause in play for Young to be taken off the field, Jayden Danns stepped up to take the penalty and calmly placed his spot-kick into the bottom left corner to give the home side the perfect start.
The Whites did look to bounce back quickly when Scott Godden came agonisingly close from a free kick in a dangerous position, which took a deflection off the wall and rattled the crossbar.
Some slick passing football in the middle of the pitch from the home side opened up some space in behind the Leeds defence, for the next chance. Substitute Elijah Gift latched onto a through ball and slotted his one-on-one effort past Ombang, to give a two-goal cushion to the Reds.
This goal just after the half-hour mark meant that the home side went into the break with a two-goal advantage over Scott Gardner’s Leeds.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 2-0 Leeds United
The second half started much slower than the opening 45, with the first real chance falling to the Whites 20 minutes in. Harvey Vincent whipped in a dangerous free kick which found Lleyton Brown, but he couldn’t get the connection on the header he was looking for and his effort went wide of the post.
With 25 minutes to play, the home side made it three wins in a row when Louie Koumas extended the Reds’ goal advantage to three. It came after Danns produced some clever footwork inside the Leeds box and he was able to play a short pass to Koumas, who took a touch and drilled his effort off the underside of the crossbar and in.
Just before the full-time whistle was blown it got better for Liverpool when Josh Davidson was able to pick out Danns all alone in the box with a looping cross. The striker headed home for his second of the evening and the Reds’ fourth.
This was to be the last of the action meaning the home side took away all three points. The Whites will be looking to change their fortunes when they travel to Manchester United on Tuesday night.
FULL TIME: Liverpool 4-0 Leeds United
