Our Under-18s secured their place in the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Fulham at Motspur Park.
First-half goals from Andre Harriman-Annous and Max Dowman proved decisive as we held firm to book our spot in the next round.
The hosts had the first major opportunity of the game when we lost possession on the edge of our box, allowing Aidan Evans to fire a shot off the post. The rebound fell kindly to Farhaan Ali Wahid, but he sent his effort wide.
Minutes later, we nearly made Fulham pay. Josh Ogunnaike played in Harriman-Annous, who forced a smart save from Dino Kaiser to keep the scores level.
Harriman-Annous made no mistake with his next opportunity. Ife Ibrahim played a beautifully weighted through ball, setting the striker through on goal. Showing great composure, he rounded the goalkeeper and calmly slotted home to put us in front.
We doubled our advantage just before the break in stunning fashion. A long pass from Brayden Clarke found Max Dowman, who surged past two defenders on the right side of the box before drilling a low shot across goal and into the far corner with his weaker foot.
However, Fulham pulled one back moments before half-time when Seth Ridgeon’s strike took an unfortunate deflection off Will Sweet, wrongfooting Jack Porter and trickling into the net.
After the restart, we adopted a more defensive, counter-attacking approach to protect our lead. Despite Fulham enjoying the lion’s share of possession, our backline remained disciplined and resolute, restricting the hosts to minimal clear-cut chances.
The Cottagers’ best opportunity to equalise came from a set piece, as Logan Cooke nodded the ball back across goal to Aidan Evans, but he somehow headed wide from close range.
We had a golden chance to put the game to bed when Harriman-Annous was brought down in the box, but Dowman’s penalty was saved by Kaiser. Despite the missed opportunity, our resilience shone through as we saw out the game to secure victory and progress to the last eight.
What It Means
We advance to the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals, where we will host either Manchester United or Chelsea.
Fixture details, including the date and ticket information, will be confirmed in due course.
What’s Next?
Our Under-18s return to league action this Saturday, February 8, as we host West Bromwich Albion at Sobha Realty Training Centre.
Kick-off is at 12pm (UK time)
line ups
Fulham XI: Kaiser, Amissah, Essenga, Cooke (Walters, 73) Slade, White, Zepa (De-Gale, 81) Ridgeon, Evans, Wingate, Ali Wahid
Subs (not used): Varney, Lubega, Picotto, Khan, Schutter
Arsenal XI: Porter, Clarke, Onyekachukwu, Sweet, Ogunnaike (Salmon, 66), Ibrahim, Julienne, Dowman, O’Neill, Harriman-Annous, Zecevic John (Oyetunde, 89).
Subs (not used): Ranson, Murisa, Marciniak, Casey, Bailey-Joseph
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