Liverpool u19 0 Man Utd u19 2 (Jan 26 2001)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL U19 2 Man Utd U19 2

Report by Dave Usher at the Academy

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-1 Venue - The Academy Date - Fri 26 Jan 2001 Star Man - Ian Armstrong / Peter Cavanagh

 

 

 

 

 

It's hard to believe that Liverpool lost this game, as they dominated pretty much from start to finish. However, it is a game that goalkeeper Peter Crookes will want to forget in a hurry, as it was his error that presented Unitred with a first minute lead, and he later gave away a penalty and was sent off.

The first goal was absolutely unbelieveable. There's bad goals, very bad goals, and then there's goals like this. Crookes controlled a backpass, and was looking upfield to see who he was going to clear the ball to, and he didn't see the United striker closing him down until it was too late. He was tackled as he attempted to clear his lines and the ball gently rolled into the bottom corner.

In fairness to Crookes, he should never have been the backpass in the firstplace, but even so, it was a horrendous mistake. That setback really rocked the reds, and for the next ten minutes or so they were truly awful, struggling to string more than two passes together, and regularly getting exposed by United's swift breaks, particularly down their right hand side.

Jamie Olsen had a few uncomfortable moments early on at left back, but he wasn't really helped by some sloppy play by Jon Otsemobor. The two of them exchanged words quite a few times as they tried to sort it out. Ultimately they did, and Olsen went on to have a fine match.

The reds slowly began to settle, and began to lay siege to the United goal. Ian Armstrong was proving to be a real livewire, and he completely overshadowed his strike partner Daniel Sjolund, who was playing his first game for the under 19's since joining from West Ham.

Armstrong almost equalised when he wriggled away from the defence before hitting a shot into the side netting. He should have scored, but deserves credit for creating the chance for himself.

He would have equalised shortly after, when his jinking run from the left took him past two defenders before hitting a powerful shot towards the top corner, but the keeper pulled off a fine save. At this point it was constant Liverpool pressure. Thompson had a shot blocked, and there were several close calls from set pieces which almost fell to a reds player in the box.

United's youngsters were desperately hanging on, but were always a threat on the counter attack. The centre forward - who spent the whole game bitching and moaning at the ref, they start them young at Old Trafford - had a goal ruled out for offside, and only a fantastic last gasp tackle by reds skipper Peter Cavanagh prevented them from doubling the lead against the run of play.

Warnock and Welsh were dominating the centre of midfield, and John Miles was causing some problems down the left, but the breakthrough just wouldn't come. Welsh appeared to pick up a knock, and was replaced at half time (possibly with next Monday's youth cup tie in mind) by Steve Torpey, which meant John Miles switching to the centre alongside Warnock.

More chances came and went in the second half, with Armstrong once again the danger man. Sjolund thought he'd equalised when the keeper appeared to parry the ball over his own head and over the line, but the linesman ruled the ball hadn't crossed the line, a decision that was dubious to say the least.

That chance had come about because of Armstrong's persistence and trickery down the inside left channel, and this has to be the best performance I've seen from 'Army' in an U19 game.

As the game wore on, the reds piled more men forward, with full backs Cavanagh and Olsen getting forward at every opportunity, and Chris Thompson showing up well on the right. There was always the threat of being hit on the break, and that's what happened, as United broke through the centre and Crookes hauled down the striker just inside the box.

The penalty was not in any doubt, but the decision to send off the keeper was harsh as Cavanagh had got back into a covering position. The warning signs had been there, as earlier Crookes had twice had to pull off smart one on one saves, but this time he could do nothing about it, and earned a red card for his troubles.

Matty Parry came on in goal, with Thompson the unlucky player to make way for him, but Parry could do nothing to stop the penalty, and it was effectively game over. The reds still went forward and continued to dominate, but it was just one of those days. I'm starting to think that I may be a bit of a jinx, as I'd missed the previous two games (one because I was at Villa, the other because they re-arranged a game and I didn't know about it. You'd think they'd tell me wouldn't you?) which they won 5-1 and 5-0!

The lads played well today though, none more so than skipper Peter Cavanagh, who impresses me more and more each time I see him play. The last time I saw the under 19's win a game was on 4th November, so maybe I should stay away in future!


TEAM: Peter Crookes; Peter Cavanagh, Jon Otsemobor, Paul Culshaw, Jamie Olsen; Chris Thompson (Matty Parry), Steve Warnock; John Welsh (Steve Torpey), John Miles; Ian Armstrong, Daniel Sjolund:



click here for exclusive match photo's