U18s report: Fulham 4-3 Arsenal

Our U18 Premier League South title hopes came to an end with a 4-3 defeat away to Fulham on Saturday.

The result leaves us fourth in the division, four points behind leaders Southampton, with just one game left to be played this season. 

On Saturday, Bradley Slade gave Fulham an early lead at Motspur Park before goals from Macauley Zepa and Brodie Dair gave the hosts a 3-0 advantage.

We responded with a quick double on the brink of half-time though courtesy of Max Dowman and Dan Casey.

Dair then completed a brace before Casey scored his second to make it 4-3.

WHAT HAPPENED

Fulham took an early lead when a Zepa corner saw the ball ricochet in our penalty area, allowing Slade to open the scoring.

Zepa got himself on the scoresheet moments later, cutting inside and smashing the ball into the top left corner for 2-0.

Dair then beat the offside trap and put his effort just wide, before Fulham were awarded a penalty that was missed by Jayden Quashie, who shot straight at Jack Talbot.

It was 3-0 thought in the 28th minute, Zepa darting down the byline and crossing for Dair to tap-in.

We came with half-time approaching, Dowman going on a great run and seeing his right-footed effort saved before Casey was thwarted by Dino Kaiser.

There was nothing he could do about our next attempt though, Louie Zecevic-John forcing a save that spilled the ball into Dowman’s path. All he had to do was tap it across the line for his 12th goal in his last six matches.

Casey’s form shouldn’t be overshadowed though. He pulled another back for us by lobbing the goalkeeper, assisted by Dowman, in stoppage time. That took him up to 17 league goals this season.

Casey saw his next effort go wide after cutting inside early in the second half, but our comeback was halted when Fulham made it 4-2 in the 56th minute, a mix-up at the back allowing the ball to fall for Dair, who smashed it into the back of the net.

It then became 18 league goals for Casey, who again reduced the arrears when we counter-attacked from a Fulham corner. Ceadach O’Neill played Casey in behind the defence and he toe-poked it into the bottom right.

We almost equalised when Dowman had a left-footed effort tipped onto the post, and his following free-kick from just outside the box went wide.

Talbot made a top save to deny Zepa his second before Dowman saw another attempt go just over the bar.

line-ups

Fulham: Kaiser, Benchaita, Cooke, Schutter, Slade (Taylor 90+6), Quashie, Chingwaro, Zepa, Evans, Grant (De-Gale 90+11), Dair (Khan 75)

Substitutes (not used): Mayer, Cavell

Arsenal: Talbot, Murisa, Ibrahim, Chapman, Ogunnaike, Julienne (Hashi 78), Marciniak (Ismail 69), O’Neill (Bailey-Joseph 69), Dowman, Casey, Zecevic-John (Oyetunde 78)

Substitutes (not used): Tomlin