Deserved win in six goal thriller.
The U's U21s have beaten Crystal Palace 4-2.
A goal from Jack Curtis and two from Dion Sembie-Ferris gave the U's a 3-1 lead at the break and Macauley Bonne added a fourth on the hour.
Palace got one back on seventy two minutes but it was a deserved victory for the U's youngsters.
A goal from Jack Curtis and two from Dion Sembie-Ferris gave the U's a 3-1 lead at the break and Macauley Bonne added a fourth on the hour.
Palace got one back on seventy two minutes but it was a deserved victory for the U's youngsters.
The U’s started with a bang, and had already hit the woodwork before they opened the scoring after only two minutes.
In the first sixty seconds, a run from Dion Sembie-Ferris ended with the U’s speed merchant hitting the base of the post with his cross.
A minute later, Sembie-Ferris latched onto a clearance up in the air after Macauley Bonne had put Palace under pressure and volleyed home past Kettings in the visitors’ goal.
All the key action was coming in the Palace half in the early stages, with Cameron James and Jack Curtis getting in good positions. James put his header wide before Curtis hit his shot straight at Kettings.
Marley Andrews then got in on the action, drilling his angled effort over the bar after flicks from both Curtis and Macauley Bonne.
The U’s got a deserved second on twenty seven minutes, with Curtis calmly sidefooting home after a cross from Sembie-Ferris had been headed back into the danger area by Anthony Jeffrey.
Byron Lawrence joined in the U’s attack ten minutes later but the referee missed the deflection from his shot and gave Palace a goal kick.
Bonne was then quickly onto a great through ball from Tom Lapslie but chose to go first time, lifting his effort over the crossbar.
Sembie-Ferris got his second and the U’s third a couple of minutes before the break, intercepting on the edge of his own box before running the length of the pitch and putting his shot under the keeper.
Palace got one back seconds later though, as De Silva slotted home to make it 3-1 at half time.
And the visitors should have been only a goal behind four minutes into the second half.
A low cross was whipped in from De Silva but somehow Ferrier failed to make contact and the chance was gone.
On the hour, the U’s passed their way to a fourth goal, as Lawrence, Jeffrey and Andrews combined down to left to put Palace on the back foot.
The ball came to Curtis and an audacious backheel found Andrews, who pulled the ball back for Macauley Bonne to finish into the empty net to make it 4-1.
That goal came on the hour and the U’s were good value for their lead.
The U’s made their first substitution of the game four minutes later, with Taylor Tombides replacing Anthony Jeffrey on the left wing.
Palace didn’t give up the ghost and got a second through their best player on the night, Hiram Boateng.
He picked the ball up in midfield, ran through five or six challenges before slotting home past Bransgrove in the U’s goal.
The visitors were on the front foot and were getting the ball forward quickly whenever they could.
Adarabioyo headed wide, De Silva hit a low strike narrowly past the far post and Jamie Harney had to be alert to tackle Dymond just as he was about to pull the trigger.
Conor Hubble replaced Lawrence in the centre of midfield on eighty one minutes, just before Sembie-Ferris almost got his hat-trick.
Once again, he picked the ball up in his own half before marauding forward but was smothered by keeper Kettings before he could get a sight of goal.
Nnamdi Nwachuku was the third and final change for the U’s, coming on in the last minute for Macauley Bonne.
There were no further scares for either team before the referee blew the final whistle on an entertaining match that the young U’s deserved to win.