We've been drawn in Group F, along with: Oxford United Northampton Town, and Wycombe Wanderers (there's a surprise !) The lads will play all their games away from home.
Fixture dates have been agreed: Oxford United Tuesday 4th September Wycombe Wanderers Tuesday 18th September Northampton Town Tuesday 6th November All kick off at 7:45 and as said, all away from home.
Oxford Utd 3 Fulham 0 The lads just never got going tonight, and not helped by goalkeeper Tony Stahl being sent off just after the start of the second half for handling outside his area. Matt O'Riley was the player sacrificed. Truth be told the home team were on top throughout, with Sam Smith outstanding and absolutely running the midfield . He got 1 goal and 1 assist to round off an excellent performance. Oxford's third was from a penalty late on - where's Luca Asby-Hammond when you need him. (just joking, it wouldn't have made a jot of difference even if he'd save it.) Guess it's only the first match in the Group stage but the team will need to buck up their ideas if they're going to qualify. Tonight's team was: Stahl; Drameh, Jenz, Opoku (mundle-Smith 75'), Atkinson, Davies (Kelly 75'), O’Riley (Wickens 50'), Harris, Francois, Abraham and Thompson. Unused subs: Garrido and Hilton
Wycombe Wanderers 2 Fulham 1 It wouldn't be a proper season without a game against Wycombe. Unfortunately this one went the wrong way with a deflected shot in the 3rd minute of injury time. Not sure what the rules of this U21 competition are but the home side fielded a strong, virtually first team including 36 year old Adebyo Akinfenwa. please log in to view this image In contrast we brought on 16 year old Fabio Carvahlo and 15 year Harvey Elliott for the second half and boy did they make a difference. To be honest not sure what our formation was in the first half - a lot of big lads but predominantly CBs. Okay slight exaggeration but you'll get the drift from the line up: L. Ashby-Hammond, Jenz (Carvalho 46'), Atkinson, Opoku (Kelly 75'), Drameh, Davies, Mundle-Smith. Francois, Harris, Thompson, Abraham (Elliott 46') Unused subs: Wickens and Garrido The lads went behind from yet another early goal - after only 2 minutes - but battled hard and in that second got just desserts with an absolute screamer from our pocket battleship Cameron Thompson. With his back to goal he turned and from 25 yards crashed the ball in off the crossbar. We had other chances, with Harvey Elliott being unlucky a couple of times, before the late fluke winner from Wycombe. Would have fancied us on penalties, particularly with Luca Ashby-Hammond in goal. But there you go, as does this trophy.
It's the old trophy for league 1 and 2 teams, but someone came up with the idea of also inviting the U21 sides of 16 teams from the top two divisions, that's why they could field senior players like Akinfenwa while we had the youngsters involved. Shame we went out, but it's all good experience for our up-and-coming lads. Incidentally, Wycombe's assistant manager is also assistant manager of an U12s team in the same league as my youngest's team, and he's a thoroughly nice bloke. He said we (my U12s, not Fulham) were a good team, which I was delighted with. Next time I see him I'll ask what he thought of our youngsters tonight.
Northampton 2 Fulham 0 Tonight the lads went up to the Sixfields Stadium - well, that's what it used to be called. Remember the 'hole in the pitch' when we played against them just after they moved there in 1994 ? Ah, the naughty 90s and Division 3 - which itself just a year or so before used to be called Division 4. Anyway, 3 games in 8 days proved a step too far for our team. Northampton employed long ball tactics and they didn't have to wait long for them to pay off. Two goals came inside 3 minutes in the first quarter from punts. Although the lads tried hard in the second half they never really threatened. So, that it for this competition as we fail to get out of the Group stage. The team was: T. Ashby-Hammond; S. Sessegnon, Davies, Jenz, Mundle-Smith; Francois, Cisse; De La Torre (Atkinson 46'), Thompson, Harris; Santos-Clase (Abraham 62') Unused subs: L. Ashby-Hammond, Kelly, David and Asare
