U18s Premier League North

Leeds United 2 (McFadden 48’, Crew 50’)

Liverpool 1 (Doak 63’)  

Leeds: Ombang (GK), Diboe, Ferguson, Coleman (C), Godden, Debayo (Lopata-White 46’), Douglas, Toulson (Crew 46’), Andreucci (Dawber 88’), McFadden, Wilson (Richards 60’). Subs not used: Grainger.

Liverpool: Hewitson (GK), Osborne, Gyimah, Miles, Hayes-Green, Onanuga (Pennington 79’), McConnell, Young (Figueroa 79’), Doak, Kone-Doherty (Laffey 54’), Koumas (Giblin 90’). Subs not used: Morana.

Venue: Thorp Arch

Referee: M. Ali

Booked: Crew, Lopata-White, Coleman (Leeds)

Leeds United Under-18s played their first home game of the season on Saturday, against a strong Liverpool team. The two sides cancelled each other out in the first half of the game with the defences coming out on top.

After the break, the Whites broke the deadlock and got two goals in quick succession through Max McFadden and Charlie Crew, to give the home side a comfortable lead. The Reds did pull a goal back to set up a tense half an hour but the Whites defended well and held on for all three points.

In the opening stage of the game, it was the away side who had some good opportunities and a flurry of corners, to apply pressure at Thorp Arch.

Leeds withstood the early pressure and then took control of the proceedings. Their first real chance came after some quick passing, which saw the ball worked to McFadden, who took a touch out his feet and unleashed a left-footed strike from distance which cannoned against the woodwork.

Liverpool created some chances of their own with a long switch of play from James McConnell to winger Ben Doak, who then drove at the Leeds backline and hit a low strike which just went past the post.

Five minutes from the half-time interval, the Whites had a huge appeal for a penalty when Connor Douglas was played through into the box. He took the ball round Charlie Hayes-Green who then slid in and brought the attacker down, but the referee waved away the appeals and no action was taken.

That was to be the final incident of note in the first 45 minutes at Thorp Arch and the whistle to signal the end of the half was sounded, sending the teams in level.

HALF TIME: Leeds United 0-0 Liverpool

The home side made two changes at the break bringing on Reuban Lopta-White for James Debayo and also Charlie crew for Dan Toulson, whilst the visitors remained unchanged.

Leeds came out for the second half flying and grabbed the opening goal within three minutes of the restart. They won the ball back high up the pitch and played some quick short passes around the edge of the 18-yard box, from which Marley Wilson was able to squeeze a clever ball through to McFadden, who struck a low strike across goal beating the ‘keeper and putting his side ahead.

Two minutes later, the Whites had another! The ball was again worked well down the right-hand side and Douglas was able to loft a cross into the box that found the substitute Crew. He clipped a smart finish over Luke Hewitson in the Liverpool goal to give Leeds a two-goal advantage in the game.

The Reds were pushing to get back into the match and did score the goal they were searching for, through their most dangerous player on the day, Doak. He was played through one-on-one with Darryl Ombang and the winger calmly placed his effort into the back of the net.

After conceding the goal, Leeds United controlled the remainder of the game and limited the away side to long-range efforts which didn’t trouble Ombang in the United net.

Deep into added time, Liverpool had a flurry of corners but once again Leeds dealt with the pressure and cleared their lines to see it out and claim their first victory of the season. Next up for Scott Gardner’s side is an away trip to Nottingham Forest.

FULL TIME: Leeds United 2-1 Liverpool