First Central League defeat for Young Terriers
- Town’s Under-19s beaten 4-0 by Accrington Stanley
- Learning curve for Young Terriers’ team
- Comments from Academy Coach Oran Thompson
Huddersfield Town’s Under-19s fell to their first Central League defeat of the season against Accrington Stanley’s Under-23s on Wednesday afternoon.
Town started the game brightly, when Myles Bright breezed past Accrington’s defence forcing a save from Liam Isherwood, who tipped his effort onto the post.
Michael Acquah was called into action on two occasions to deny Oliver Patrick and Josh Woods.
Accrington started to grow into the game, but Acquah and Nassim Kherbouche proved a good partnership for Town to keep out the early threats.
The Young Terriers were handed a free-kick following a foul on Luke Daley, with Bright unlucky to send his strike straight at Isherwood.
Moments later, two quick corners for Town saw the Under-19s incredibly unlucky not to go ahead following two strong headers from Kherbouche.
The deadlock was broken by Accrington in the 20th minute. Woods reached highest to head home a corner from Luke Stowe.
The Young Terriers responded well to falling behind, with Sonny Whittingham trying his luck from distance. However, Isherwood was quick to meet it and send it away.
The 33rd minute saw the visitors double their lead. Town conceded a penalty, and Tom Scully sent Acquah the wrong way.
Once again, Town’s Under-19s worked to get back into the game, with Donay O’Brien-Brady seeing his strike go wide.
Just before the half-time whistle, Acquah produced an excellent save to deny Matty Carson. However, Rosaire Longelo was on hand to slot the rebound into the back of the net.
Town started the second half the brighter side, with Neo Eccleston going agonisingly wide in the 49th minute.
Moments later, Isherwood had to dive low to deny Bright.
The game settled, with both sides sharing possession of the ball, but neither being able to find any clear cut chances.
In the 77th minute, a surging run from Eccleston led to a corner. Kherbouche reached highest to latch onto the ball, but saw his header hit the underside of the crossbar! Somehow, the ball stayed out of Isherwood’s net after a goalmouth scramble.
Michael Spellman caused havoc for Accrington’s defence in the final 10 minutes, leaving Town unlucky not to have taken any chances.
The Young Terriers were handed a free-kick in the 88th minute after Conor Falls was taken down. Second half substitute Michael Stone stepped up to take it, but saw his strike go straight at Isherwood.
Seconds later, Spellman was incredibly lucky not to take Accrington’s clean sheet from them. He sprinted through the visitors entire squad and straight towards goal, but a defender caught up him just as he went to shoot!
In the second minute of injury time, Accrington sealed the game with a fourth. Dylan Moonan latched onto a corner and volleyed the ball past Acquah.
The final chance of the fell to the Young Terriers. Eccleston’s corner fell to second half substitute Owen Bray, who hit the post!
Despite the result, Academy Coach Oran Thompson was pleased with how the Under-19s held themselves against an older side.
“Over half our starting team were Under-18s, so the game was a great opportunity to test themselves against older and more experienced players.
“We have been doing a lot of work on the ‘Fight Zone’ in the last six weeks, so this was a great game to put that to the test against a tough opponent.
“It was a real eye opener for our players in terms of the level of competitiveness and fight needed to perform well in games at this level, and to be honest we fell short on the day.
“We had to deal with a lot of pressure in the game and at times we coped well with us, but we clearly didn’t defend set plays well enough.”
“It’s all part of the process for them playing against older players and we’ve got to be at that level to compete first and foremost with the fundamental stuff – so defending the box, defending set pieces, and winning the battles.
“There’s more games coming up over the Christmas period, so we’ll continue to work really hard on these aspects.”
Town’s U19 Line-Up (4-3-3)
Michael Acquah; Luke Daley (Michael Stone, 83’), David Adewoju, Nassim Kherbouche, Neo Eccleston; Myles Bright (c) (Josh Okpolokpo, 68’), Sonny Whittingham (Owen Bray, 60’), Donay O’Brien-Brady; Conor Falls, Kit Elliott (Luke Billam, 60’), Michael Spellman
Unused Sub
Sam Taylor
