James Frayne missed a first half penalty as Liverpool u18s went went down to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of table topping Blackburn Rovers at the Academy this morning. Victory in this game for the reds could have seen them replace Rovers at the top of the league depending on results elsewhere, but it never looked likely from the moment Frayne's kick was saved by the Blackburn keeper.
The visitors were just about good value for the points as the reds just never really got going. Frayne’s spot kick miss came on 22 minutes when the game was still goalless, and to rub salt in the wounds Rovers successfully converted a penalty of their own eight minutes later.
Liverpool huffed and puffed but struggled to create any clear chances, and were thankful to keeper Dave Roberts who made two brilliant second half saves to keep his side in the game. The reds pushed hard late on and Nardiello missed a decent chance in stoppage time, but in truth John Owens’ side rarely looked like breaking down the hard working visitors.
Paul Barratt was Liverpool’s most dangerous attacking outlet, but didn’t see enough of the ball to make it really count, whilst Callum Woods was outstanding at centre back, defending well and using the ball intelligently.
A full report and pictures from this game will be on site tomorrow.
