please log in to view this image Pompey Academy stormed back to winning ways in the Youth Alliance League with a 4-1 success at Leyton Orient. But they had to battle from behind in the capital, with Claudio Nzang giving the hosts the lead in the opening stages. The young Blues were under pressure in the first half, although went in level after the break after Ashton Sizer (pictured) emphatically headed home a Max Hammond cross. They took control when the action restarted, though, and struck three times in the space of 13 minutes to stun their opponents. Some neat work on the right was capitalised on, first by Chinedu Agu and then Brandon Downey, before Elisha Pfupa was found in space to wrap up a resounding victory. Lead professional development phase coach Sam Hudson said: “It was a tale of two halves because we took a while to really get going at the start. “We conceded an early goal and they were skipping past us far too easily. We weren’t tracking well enough or defending properly as individuals. “We tried to mix up our attacking play and although our decision making was correct, our positioning was a bit off. “It was fortunate that we found ourselves level at half-time thanks to Ashton’s second goal in as many games. “Conal made one particularly strong save from a corner just before the break to keep it at 1-1 and so we needed to tweak a few things. “We were excellent in the second half and the press that was led by Dane and Chinedu was so strong that we limited Leyton Orient to scraps. “That gave us a much stronger platform to attack from and we had Max getting up the pitch as much as possible, having done a great job of filling in at right-back. “The combination play was so good and the forward runs – which we’d challenged the boys on – were so dangerous. “We were able to force our opponents into making mistakes and scored three goals in under 15 minutes to secure the win. “The performance from us throughout the second half was just so pleasing and we beat Orient on every metric that we measure ourselves on. “I was delighted with the way the lads took on the information we gave them at the interval, so now the challenge is for them to do that from the very start.” Pompey: Conal McDermott; Max Hammond, Ashton Sizer (George Wilson 58 (George Tregunna 90+2)), Reggie Buckland, Ciaran Martin; Jakub Jablonski, Tadi Bare; Nathaniel Chioma, Chinedu Agu, Jermaine Osifo (Elisha Pfupa 74); Dane Bailey (Downey 58)
