In Sunday Morning’s Melwood Today…
- Michael Sweeting reviews Liverpool’s U18’s defeat to Bolton
- Saturday’s International Reds Round Up
- Craig Bellamy scores his 19th International goal
U18s Academy Match Report – Liverpool 1-2 Bolton
The Liverpool U18’s suffered a frustrating 2-1 defeat to Bolton on Saturday afternoon at the Academy.
Read a full match report by ThisIsAnfield’s Michael Sweeting down at the Liverpool Academy….
Liverpool 1 – 2 Bolton Wanderers
LFC : Moli (79)
BWFC: Lester (Pen – 51), Caton (77)
Liverpool under-18s suffered a disappointing defeat to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday afternoon in a game they largely dominated.
Bolton came into the game having only won once this season but showed no signs of nerves as they came close after only one minute when centre back Threlkeld got free in the box only to head straight at Jamie Stephens.
There was an open feel about the game as Liverpool settled into their experimental formation and there were chances at both ends as Moli and McLaughlin went close for Liverpool whilst sixteen year old Zach Clough took advantage of hesitant defending by Joe Rafferty to for Stephens into another good save.
From there however, Liverpool gained control of the game with Peterson stinging goalkeeper Lewis Fielding’s fingers from 20 yards and Sumner forcing an even better stop from the Bolton ‘keeper a couple of minutes later. Another threat was stand in left back Jack Dunn who tried in vain all afternoon to find a way past the resolute Fielding.
Late on in the first half, Dave Moli went through and 1v1 hit the post but was ruled offside. At half time Mike Marsh made some more changes, bringing on Michael Wilson for the injured Matty Regan and new American signing Marc Pelosi also came on replacing the out of form Yalany Baio.
Unfortunately for Liverpool it was Michael Wilson who was immediately involved as he brought down Chris Lester who looked to have gotten around him. Lester took the penalty himself and scored it. 1-0 – Chris Lester.
Shortly afterwards there was controversy, as Liverpool lined up a free kick a Bolton player hit the deck in an incident the cameras did not pick up. The referee did not see the incident but the Bolton players reacted angrily towards Jack Dunn and after talking to his linesman the referee returned to issue a straight red card to winger Kris Peterson. Whether the linesman actually saw the incident though is debatable as he did not originally raise his flag to bring it to the referee’s attention.
Despite the disadvantage the Red’s were still on top of the game and continued to push with Lussey, Gainford and Moli all going close in a goalmouth scramble. Against the run of play Bolton extended the lead, the ever dangerous Caton finally escaped McLaughlin’s attentions and fired in at the near post after it appeared Jamie Stephens got a little bit confused regarding his positioning.
Just one minute later Dave Moli got his reward for hard work from the front as he touched it round Fielding and placed it into the empty goal. So a disappointing defeat for the young Reds but one that was thoroughly undeserved. A little bit more invention and control in possession and these silly defeats will be comfortable victories.
Liverpool U18 Team: Jamie Stephens, Ryan McLaughlin, Lewis Hatch, Joe Rafferty (Sam Gainford 70), Matty Regan (Michael Wilson 45), Yalany Baio (Marc Pelosi 45), Kristoffer Peterson, Jack Dunn, David Moli, Josh Sumner, Jordan Lussey. Unused subs: Connor Wearing, Nathan Quirk.
Match Report by Michael Sweeting
Saturday’s International Round Up
Bellamy inspire Wales Victory over Norway – Craig Bellamy scored his 19th international goal on Saturday afternoon when he scored a superb 20-yard drive into the far corner of Norway’s goal during Wales 4-1 victory over Norway at the Cardiff City Stadium
England 1 Spain 0 – Meanwhile, Glen Johnson played the full 90 minutes as England beat World Cup Winners, Spain 1-0 at Wembley. Stewart Downing was a second half substitute for the Three Lions while Pepe Reina also came off the bench to play the second hald for Spain. Chelsea’s Frank Lampard goal line header ensured a victory at Wembley.
Friday’s International Reds Round Up can be viewed in Yesterdays edition Here
Melwood Today – Your quick round up of some of Liverpool’s essential and not-so-essential news every morning on ThisIsAnfield.com …
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