AFC U18s retain top spot- Report & Reaction

[OfficialYouth]

Barrow AFC U18 6-1 Kendal Town CDS U18

Two goals by Mikey Thomson helped AFC to a big win against a spirited Kendal Town CDS in front of AFC boss Darren Edmondson. The new boss was pleased with what he saw and singled out 2 to 3 names of whom he was really impressed with. The Centre were without injured keeper Jordan Belcher; in which U16 keeper Callum McElroy made his U18 debut and impressed throughout.

The Centre started brightly creating a nuber of early chances with Thomson and Nath Waterston going close. Eventually the good football and pressure paid off when Dec Bowman's effort was parried to Waterston who fired home.

The second came when Thomson grabbed his first of the night, a stunning free-kick from the edge of the area straight into the top corner. The game leveled out and Kendal played some good stuff and created some good opportunities. Bowman's hard work up top paid off when he latched on to Waterston's pass to fire past the keeper for AFC's third.

Kendal pulled one back shortly before half-time when Cameron Young scrambled home from a corner. Thomson came close to adding a fourth when his shot across the keeper rebounded off the post.

The second half started a little scrappy with both teams fighting for possession. Both teams continued to create chances but nothing came until the 60th minute, when substitute Cain Scott unleashed his pace and his shot was saved into the path of Thomson for his second of the night. A fifth came in shortly after; a corner from the training ground was whipped across by Ben MacDonald and converted by Christian Sloan. Nathan Waterston's chip rebounding off the bar moments later fell to Thomson looking for his hat-trick and his shot acrobatically saved by the keeper. A sixth came when Declan Kell converted Mikey Thomson's free-kick.

Credit to the Kendal Town staff and players; who continued to play football throughout and played their part in a great game.

U18 boss Dan Myles:
Really pleased with the reaction from the lads after they were disappointed after our game against Myerscough Reds, I think they put right the things I thought were wrong from the last game. First half especially we played really well, some great combinations all over the pitch, and the tempo we played at, meant they found really hard to live with. Second half at the start we were a bit sloppy, but we tried to do the right things, playing out from the back and trying to play through when we could, which is exactly how we want the lads to play. Christian Sloan in the middle of the park played really well tonight, keeping things very simple and keeping us ticking over, controlling our tempo. Some other really encouraging and positive performances from all of the lads, overall myself and the other coaching staff are really pleased with the performance and response from the lads, especially their attitude after the last game. Also nice to see Darren Edmondson down watching the lads, not sure if they noticed, but I'm glad they played like that in front of him.

The next home game for the U18s is the final league game of the season against AFC Darwen on Thursday 13th March. However, the side are back in action next Monday when they face a strong Liverpool FC College side away in Kirby.

[ant]

Is there a league table any where regarding the U18.s?

[Casualobserver]

http://full-time.thefa.com/Index.do?league=7531546

It's not been updated yet.