Liverpool u18 1 Crewe u18 2 (Oct 14 2006)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL U18 1 Crewe U18 2

Report by Dave Usher at the Academy

Scorer(s) - Lee Woodward Half Time - 1-1 Venue - Liverpool Academy, Kirkby Date - Sat 14 Oct 2006 Star Man - Jonathon Pringle

 

 

 

 

 

 

The u18 side’s nightmare start to the season continued, as Crewe came away from the reds’ Academy with a rather fortuitous 2-1 victory over John Owens’ side. This was a game that Liverpool should have won comfortably, but a combination of bad luck and poor finishing once again proved costly. Owens must be increasingly frustrated at his side’s inability to convert chances, but equally he must be pleased with how his injury decimated squad have performed in recent weeks.

As I keep mentioning, Owens is having to make do without some key players from last years squad. Jimmy Ryan hasn’t played at all this season because of injury, Flynn, Lindfield, Threlfall and Darby were again missing because they are needed for the reserves this week, whilst Laurence Gaughan failed to recover from the groin injury he picked up last week at Everton. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Paul Barratt, Jon Routledge and Charlie Barnett were all ruled out through injury.

Once more, the side lacked height, with Jay Spearing and Stephen Behan the centre backs. Mattone Awang was at right back, with Michael Burns on the other flank. Lee Woodward and Ryan Wignall were in the centre of midfield, with Shane O’Connor on the left and trial-list Morgan Evans on the right. Ray Putterill and Jonathon Pringle were the strikers. Dave Roberts was in goal as usual.

Crewe started the game purposefully, and it needed a terrific block by Spearing to prevent the centre forward testing Roberts in the opening minute. With five minutes gone their left winger beat the offside trap to go clean through on Roberts, but the keeper narrowed the angle well and the Crewe player shot well wide.

The reds were looking unsure at the back in the opening exchanges, and they fell behind to a set piece on eight minutes. The lack of height in the side was always going to be a problem, but this goal was more down to poor marking, as the Crewe centre half stole in unmarked at the back post to beat Roberts with a stooping header.

The goal sparked an instant response from the reds, and the rest of the half saw them pepper the Crewe goal. A minute after falling behind, Liverpool almost hit back when O’Connor did well on the left and crossed to the back post to Evans, who headed just wide.

Evans then did superbly to escape two challenges and reach the byline before cutting a perfect ball across the six yard box for Pringle on the back post. The striker had an empty net to put the ball into, and a goal seemed inevitable. No-one could believe it when he put the ball across the face of the goal and wide. In his defence the ball may have been slightly behind him, but he would have expected to score.

On 18 minutes O’Connor did well on the left once more and beat his man before crossing to Putterill, who shot wide when he should have scored. The lads were getting very frustrated, especially Burns who was yelling at his strikers telling them they had to start putting their chances away. It’s been a very frustrating time for the lads as they just can’t seem to score goals this season.

The young reds were creating great opportunities every time they attacked, and some of the football was wonderful. On 22 minutes a fine passing move saw Burns play the ball into Pringle on the egde of the box, and his instant flick released Putterill in on goal. He kept his composure, and drilled a low shot across the keeper. All of us on the touchline were about to celebrate what would have been a brilliant goal, only for the ball to strike the inside of the post and roll across the goal-line before it was hacked away by a defender.

Burns’ flung himself to the floor in frustration, but he couldn’t really have a go at Putterill because it was just desperately unlucky. To the boys’ credit, they didn’t let their frustration get the better of them and they kept playing their football. Two minutes later O’Connor beat his man again and crossed to the back post where Evans came in and seemed certain to score. He was only a couple of yards out, and headed the ball back across goal but it somehow went wide.

A minute later Pringle shot wide from 18 yards, and a minute after that Putterill had a powerful 20 yard shot saved by the keeper. It was one way traffic, and a goal had to come. It did on the half hour mark, when Evans did well on the right and played a ball into Woodward on the edge of the box. He hit a first time looping shot which dropped over the keeper into the far corner.

There was a huge sense of relief, not just amongst the players, but also those of us on the sidelines. It was torturous watching the lads go so close so many times, and it was great to see them finally get their reward.

Pringle and Putterill both shot over the bar as the one way traffic continued up to half time, but the second goal wouldn’t come.

Spearing picked up a leg injury five minutes before half time, when he went in for a fifty fifty with their striker and was caught by his studs. The reds’ skipper was furious with the challenge, but the referee felt there was no intent, and I have to say from where I was stood I agreed with the ref. Clearly Jay was caught, and was in a lot of pain, but I didn’t think the lad had any intent there.

There followed an amusing moment as Spearing received treatment. Putterill ran over and asked his skipper: “What happened, did he catch you?”. Spearing said he did, so Putterill then starts having a go at the ref, who replied: “Hang on, you’ve just come running over asking what happened because you didn’t see it, and now you’re trying to tell me what happened!”

To his credit, Spearing came back on and got on with the game, whereas many would have gone looking for revenge. Within seconds of coming back, he had to make an interception at full stretch, which left him in even more pain. He’s a whole hearted player though is Jay, and he managed to run it off.

At half time I was fully expecting a Liverpool win. The lads had played superbly since falling behind, and if they continued to play like that they’d surely be celebrating their first win of the season.

The second half didn’t match the high standards of the first, but the reds were still generally in control and looked the more dangerous side.

Putterill had the first chance of the second period after 49 minutes, when he collected a ball in the inside left channel, and did superbly to trick his marker and create space in the box. He opened his body up to curl the ball into the far corner, but got underneath his shot too much and the ball went over.

Three minutes later Putterill was involved again, playing a wonderfully disguised reverse pass into the path of Woodward, who had made a great run into the box. The midfielder latched onto the pass, and had two options as the keeper came rushing out. He could take the ball wide away from the keeper and put the ball into the net, or take the shot first time and try to catch the keeper offguard. He opted for the second choice, but the keeper managed to get his foot to the ball and make the save.

Crewe’s keeper was pretty dodgy, especially with his kicking. His goal kicks barely reached half way, and even kicking out of his hand he didn’t look like a natural footballer. So it was no surprise when he made a mess of a backpass just after the hour mark. Pringle closed him down, and although he sidestepped the forward, his weak kick went straight to Evans. He instantly found Pringle on the edge of the box, but the keeper recovered well to make a low save.

Owens made his first change on 65 minutes, sending on Michael Collins for Putterill. Two minutes later Pringle thought he had a clear sight of goal when he collected a nice ball from Evans, but a defender got across well to make a block.

Crewe were playing completely on the counter attack, as the reds were camped in their half. Both full backs were going forward as Liverpool desperately looked for the winning goal their performance warranted, but there was a risk that they would get caught on the break. A couple of occasions Crewe looked like they might make something of the space in behind, but Spearing and Behan had covered well and also kept a good line to often catch Crewe’s pacey number ten offside.

With ten minutes to go, a ball over the top sent the number ten clear, and he held off Behan before blasting a shot past Roberts to put the visitors in front for a second time. The reds never really looked like getting another equaliser, but they did go desperately close when Pringle made space on the corner of the box before hitting the woodwork with a superb curling effort.

The incident summed up Liverpool’s day, and also Pringle’s. He played very, very well, and the only thing missing was a goal. He’s very strong, and holds the ball up well. Both he and Putterill gave Crewe a lot of problems, but neither of them could find the net. They both hit the woodwork, and they both missed some really good chances. I definitely think once the lads get that elusive first win they’ll start to get some decent results, but at the moment nothing is going for them.

They played really well in this game, and nobody had a bad game. Woodward was excellent in the first half, whilst Wignall took over after the break and was outstanding. The defence played well, with the ever dependable Spearing defending stoutly and Burns also catching the eye at left back. O’Connor was a big threat in the first half, but faded a bit in the second, whilst I really liked the look of Evans. He looked a threat every time he had the ball, until he started to tire around the hour mark.

Given the amount of absentees, this was a very good display from the reds, but they need to get that first win soon as confidence must be very low at the moment.

Star man was a tough decision. It could have been any one of Spearing, Burns, Wignall or Pringle, but I’m going to go for Pringle because he played so well and only the woodwork robbed him of what would have been a stunning goal.

Team: Roberts; Awang, Behan, Spearing, Burns; Evans (Parsonage), Wignall, Woodward, O’Connor; Putterill (Collins), Pringle: