U18 Premier League North
Wolverhampton Wanderers U18 2 (Lockhead 90’, Stevens 90’)
Leeds United U18 3 (White 27’, Mensah 45’, Mills 48’)
Wolves: Grieves (GK), Ford, Williams, Lockhead, Saba, White, Ballard-Matthews, Stevens, Thomas, Wilcox (Stafford), Osifo (Bonsu). Subs not used: Arnold, Dean-Ford, Shahar.
Leeds: Cook (GK), Thompson (Bridge), Philpott, Whitehead, Simo, Matykiewicz (Hamilton), Njinko, Mills (Alker), Morris, Mensah (Bhaskaran), White. Subs not used: Watson.
Booked: Ballard-Matthews, Stevens, Stafford (Wolves)
Referee: Ryan Price
Venue: Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground
Goals from Logan White, Kenneth Mensah and Callum Mills helped Leeds United U18s to win their first match back after the international break.
After an early chance for the hosts was squandered by Jake Wilcox, Leeds opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark. An extended spell of possession led to Loui Whitehead picking out Mills who found himself in space between the Wolves defensive and midfield lines.
He slid the ball through to White who calmly cut onto his right foot and squeezed the ball under the Wolves ‘keeper and into the bottom right of the goal.
Mensah then doubled the visitors’ lead right in the second additional minute at the end of the half. White picked the pocket of one of the host’s defenders, finding captain Jack Morris.
He then played in the impressive Carrick Njinko, who found his shot looping across goal and tapped in at the far post by Mensah.
Leeds dominated for long periods of the first half and could have had a second goal ten minutes earlier than they actually did. This came when Mills picked out Morris, seeing a shot blocked by the recovering Wolves defence after the attacker took the ball around the goalkeeper.
HALF TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers U18 0-2 Leeds United U18
The second half began in similar fashion to how the first ended with the Whites dominating possession and attacking dangerously.
Njinko, like he did all game, excellently beat his man and crossed the ball into the box which was met on the volley by Mills. His first shot hit the post but the midfielder made no mistake as he smashed the rebound into the goal off the underside of the crossbar.
Following a frantic first five minutes, the game died down with neither side having any clear chances until the final minutes.
This was when Wolves grabbed what looked to be a late consolation goal as defender Sebastian Lockhead headed in from close range from a corner.
Two minutes later and the home side pulled another back as Mason Stevens hit an effort from 25 yards into the top corner. However, there was no chance for the Midlands outfit to score a third as referee Ryan Price blew the full-time whistle straight after the restart.
Aside from the last two minutes, it was an excellent performance from the young Whites who negated Wolves’ height advantage with fast play along the floor and then took advantage of long spells of possession by being clinical with their finishing.
Following their third win of the campaign, Rob Etherington’s side are back at Thorp Arch next week, taking on Blackburn Rovers in the U18 Premier League North.
FULL TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers U18 2-3 Leeds United U18
