The young U’s progress to the next round of the Professional Development League Cup after topping their group.
The U’s went into this afternoon’s match knowing that they had to win by two goals to top the group and progress to the next round of the competition, which the side did in an emphatic way, it was a fantastic controlled performance by the team that left them leaving at the end of the day as 5-0 winners.
Freddie Price on the left wing started the game at 100 miles per hour, cutting past players like they weren’t there, and in the fourteenth minute he managed to get an assist, the U’s had a free kick on the edge of the box and Price played an out swinging ball towards the back post. Samson Uwandu was there to volley the ball home and put the U’s one up before the fifteen-minute mark.
The early pressure didn’t stop there as the U’s held onto the ball brilliantly, not giving Oxford United a second to get their breath back, thirteen minutes later Colchester found themselves in a good position for the counter attack, a great ball by Matt Yates sent T’aizo Marcel-Dilaver down the line, the number seven used his pace and power to break away from the defender and make his way into the box, where he played a perfect ball to Sean Brown after the ‘keeper had committed and Brown was able to slide the ball into an empty net.
Five minutes before the break Mupomba was making a run into the box, before he could get his shot away he was brought down and the referee pointed to the spot. Marcel-Dilaver stepped up and put the penalty away with professional accuracy, leaving the Oxford United no chance to stop it.
The half-time whistle went after forty-five minutes of fantastic football for the U’s.
The first ten minutes of the second half was all Colchester again, a brilliant display of controlling the game and keep the cushion that the U’s did so well to create in the first half, it was a perfect display.
With twenty minutes to go before full time, substitute Jamie Arnold scored a sensation goal from the edge of the box, cementing the U’s place in the next round of the competition. After good defending from the visitors they couldn’t clear the ball and Arnold picked it up just outside the area, he let fly without hesitation and the ball flew into the top corner, out of reach for the ‘keeper and leaving the game out of reach for Oxford.
With two minutes to go, there was a second substitute goal scorer, Ewan Gordon-Clement made it 5-0 after a great ball in from Yates connected with a painful area of the substitute forward’s body, he didn’t mind as it capped off a phenomenal performance for the U18s, a fantastic game controlled from start to finish from the young players.
Starting XI
- Jayden Peglar 2. Matt Yates 3. Frankie Edwards 4. Max Jolliffe 5. Bradley Chakawa 6. Milton Oni (Andrew Palmer-Brown) 7. T’aizo Marcel-Dilaver 8. Kennedy Mupomba 9. Samson Uwandu 10. Sean Brown (Jamie Arnold) 11. Freddie Price (Ewan Gordon-Clement)
Unused Substitutes
- Jamie Tedaldi