U18s match report: Liverpool lose season opener at Derby County
The opening weekend of the U18 Premier League North campaign took the young Reds to Moor Farm Training Centre, where it was the hosts who enjoyed a strong first half.
Before the quarter-hour, Derby delivered the earliest real threat as Cruz Allen struck the crossbar with a drive from the edge of the Liverpool area.
It remained goalless until the closing stages of the first half, but a decisive period saw the home team go two up at the interval.
After a mix-up at the back Lucas Pitt conceded an own goal, and Derby swiftly doubled that new advantage when Owen Eames netted.
And Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s Reds were indebted to goalkeeper Bailey Hall for preventing their deficit from growing further before half-time.
Eames was fouled inside the area and Justin Oguntolu stepped up to the kick from 12 yards – but saw his effort thwarted by Hall.
It proved brief respite for Liverpool as, three minutes after the restart, Derby grabbed a third goal, Luke Banks converting from close range following a corner kick.
Reds No.9 Josh Sonni-Lambie provided Bridge-Wilkinson’s side with a glimmer of hope just past the hour mark, but a comeback did not materialise and County added two more instead.
Oguntolu bounced back from his penalty miss by dispatching from Demiane Agustien’s cross, and substitute Charles Agbawodikeizu completed the scoring in stoppage time.
Reflecting on the outing, Bridge-Wilkinson told Liverpoolfc.com: “It was a really difficult scoreline to take obviously, and it’s not nice to concede that many goals and lose a game like that.
“It’s fair to say we’ve contributed to at least three of those goals with individual errors.
“I thought we played well apart from that but we were 3-0 down before we’ve really got into the game, and although we had a lots of possession we didn’t really work them enough in the final third.
“Look, it’s not nice, it’s not easy but it’s something we can learn from and the scoreline aside, with Derby scoring two late goals, there are positives we can take from the way we played in certain moments.
“Ultimately, goals change games so we have to find a way to score more and concede less.
“Whichever team we put out, the challenge is always to go and win the game and always to implement the style and version of the football we want to play, so scoreline aside there were definitely positives to take from today.”
TEAM
Hall, Esdaille (Lonmeni, 66), Ewing, Pitt, Enahoro-Marcus, Cowley, Ahmed, O’Connor, Sonni-Lambie, Onanuga (Cisse, 66), Bradshaw.
Unused subs: Evers, Bernard, Holme.
NEXT UP
The U18s are back in action next Saturday (August 24), hosting Middlesbrough in a 12.30pm BST kick-off at the Academy that will be shown live on LFCTV GO.
