Fulham U18's 7 - 1 Wolves

[TWFL]

my report :

Fulham Under 18's began the defence of their title, albeit in a new format, at home to Wolves. Despite only two of the starting XI having appeared in May's final victory against Blackburn, the new look side settled into winning ways in what looks like being a much tougher title to defend, despite what was to come in the following 90+ minutes.

With Oberschmidt nursing an injury it was down to Tottenham loanee Billy Grainger to keep the ball out of the Fulham net, in front of a somehwat irregular back four. New lads Donnelly and Evans slot in on either side of O'Reilly and Sambou, the young left back especially surprising having joined the club as a flying winger with Tom Richards confined to the subs bench. Josh Passley is carrying over a suspension from last season whilst also recovering from a knock, whilst Arthurworrey is also on his way back from a recurring knee injury. In front was again a much changed midfield, Tankovic and Williams (George) on either wing with Della Verde starting in a central role alongside first year Hyndman. Woodrow took the captains armband and looked to forge a new partnership with Frenchman Dembele.

It took only 90 seconds for Evans to show why he was brought in from Wrexham with a superb cross for a more defined, broader Woodrow to head home and give the home side the lead, much to the delight of both Woodrow and Evans' families there in force.

And it didn't take long for the home side to double their lead, despite showing some early season loose touches and misplaced passes, expected of a machine with so many new cogs. It was perhaps the replacement for that most vital of cogs that has been Ronnie Minkwitz who sent Fulham 2-0 ahead, the Wolves keeper only able to parry a Woodrow header with the rebound falling to Emerson Hyndman, Fulhams' next star from across the pond, who cooly faked one way and touched the other leaving him to slot home from 6 yards.

The young Dallas star didn't stop there, finding Moussa Dembele with a 50 yard through ball, only to beat his man for pace and force a save from the Wolves keeper. Hyndman was again involved in some neat build-up play that ended with a Liam Donnelly shot from 25 yards that flew just over the bar and saw the continuation of a nice spell of dominance with Della Verde and Hyndman finding the flanks well and Woodrow stepping up to his new captaincy and playing the perfect target man as well as dropping short to link play at times, something he may have to do more this season with Dembele playing on the last man instead of the craft and guile of Altman who has moved up to the under 21's.

Some neat build up play and a few tricks from Tankovic who looked to add some flash and swagger to the team led to a corner, from which a Wolves defender attempted to head into his own net only to be stopped by the man on the post. Not the last time a call for goal line technology would be needed in the match.

The next new arrival to take the spotlight was Jordan Evans, denying Wolves down the right with a lovely last ditch tackle, only to play a stray pass leading to the ball being played through for the Wolves striker one-on-one, with Grainger unlucky to slip (a carbon copy of one situation in the warm up, change your boots lad) and the somewhat tame strike to find it's way under the keepers body.

It wasn't long before Fulham restored their two goal advantage. Hyndman playing a neat one-two after some nice control and sliding in Woodrow. The captains shot was blocked, only to fall to Hyndman some 12 yards out to fire home. An American being in the right place at the right time, I feel i've heard that somewhere before.

Lyle Della-Verde wasn't to be outclassed by his American/Portuguese midfield partner after a lovely backheel return to Dembele released the striker in to the box, only for another tame finish from the left gave the Wolves keeper an easy save. Della-Verde was to turn from provider to nearly goalscorer after Williams and Woodrow linked to provide him with a chance to curl the ball with his left foot towards the far corner, only to be denied by a great save. Wolves meanwhile, were showing very little, looking for long balls to two strong tall forwards which were met with Dan O'Reilly's head every time, despite giving up a good few inches to his opposition.

As half time approached, and both forwards missed half chances, it fell to the would-be striker George Williams plying his trade from the wing on the day to fire straight at the keeper  -  had he shot across the keeper would have scored himself -  but collected the rebound and found Woodrow then Della-Verde on the edge of the box, only for the central midfielder to dummy left and shift the ball to his right and power the ball into the back of the net from just outside the box, to make it 4-1 to Fulham.

The weather was changeable in the second half, with periods of short showers, but the flow of the game was unchanged, Fulham controlling the play and only giving up chances to the visitors through their own mistakes. Williams and Evans started particularly brightly, the Milton Keynes youngster stinging the keepers hands and the Wrexham winger forcing a corner.

Just as the sun came back out, the young American completed his hat trick. Evans breaking quickly from a Wolves corner and earning a free kick just outside the box on the right. It was another lack of concentration from Wolves allowing Hyndman ample time to be found by Della-Verde's free kick and take the ball in his stride to slot home from 20 yards into the bottom left of the goal, 5-1 and plenty of time still to play.

The goal of the day was still to come, from the man who scored 24 last season, including the opening goal in last years national final. A long goal kick from Grainger was headed back by Dembele, for Woodrow to bring the ball down some 30 yards from goal and absolutely hammer the ball home to a rapturous applause, no least from his family on the sidelines, I believe it even got his nan out of her chair.

This sparked the team into life, Dembele missing a sitter from 5 yards after some neat Williams work, sandwiched either side of goos play from Evans, playing dangerous crosses and managing to run unchallenged with the ball from one area to the other and force a scrambling save from the opposition keeper.

This must sound pretty one-sided, and up until then it was. The only previous danger to the home side this half coming when a suspect offside ruling allowed a Wolves striker through, only for Sambou - not unlike Etuhu in the way he ate up the ground - to get back and nick the ball away after a good sliding challenge. The Fulham goal was to lead a privileged life in the next 5 minutes, surviving two Wolves corners that ended in goal mouth scrambles and some clearances off the line.
Fulham rang the changes half way through the second half which stemmed some of the flow previously gained, Richards O'Halloran and Tieku replacing Hyndman Evans and Della-Verde. Tankovic moved into the centre and with defenders looking to get in on the act it was the fresh Tom Richards bursting into the area who was found by the Swede, only for the ball to creep away from him and result in a sliced shot wide.

There was time for one last debutant to make a real impact, Dembele after turning his defender neatly and being hauled down took the resulting free kick quickly laying it 5 yards to Tankovic, who was switched on enough to turn the ball back into Dembeles path, with the striker opening his body and curling home off the post and in. Unfortunately he won't get the goal as it came back off the post to strike the keepers back and nestle in the back of the net.

That rounded off a comfortable 7-1 victory for the reigning champions, O'Reilly inparticular doing well to stem any kind of attack Wolves attempted to muster on a day when they misfired. Though it's hard to look past (but not over) the diminuitive figure of one Emerson Hyndman who was the starting point for many Fulham moves and managed to finish 3 of them himself in a perfect debut for the under 18's.

Fulham : Grainger; Donnelly, Sambou, O'Reilly, Evans (Richards); Tankovic, Hyndman (O'Halloran), Della-Verde (Tieku), Williams; Woodrow(C), Dembele.

Great report Elgreenio, thanks. Want to try get down there a few times this season, see for myself what the youth is like.

Iirc there was a big thing about Hyndman wasn't there? It was towards the start/middle of last season but I remember some big clubs were after him only for his dad to recommend us because he liked the feel and the look of Motspur Park, or something along those lines. Anyway great to have him on board, seems like he will be a good player if he can bulk up a bit.