AFC Rushden & Diamonds U18 4 Irchester United U18 0

AFC Rushden & Diamonds U18 4-0 Irchester United U18

Northants Senior Youth League

The Diamonds U18s returned to winning ways, as a dominant first half display saw them run out comfortable winners over Irchester United.
The damage was done inside the opening 21 minutes, with 3 goals knocking the stuffing out of the visitors. The first came on 7 minutes when Savvas Hamp picked out Jake Reynolds inside the Irchester penalty area, and he brought the ball under control well before prodding home from 10 yards.

The second goal arrived on 19 minutes. Matty Smith made a great run through the middle of the Romans’ defence before backheeling to Tommy Messinger, whose powerful shot was straight at visiting goalkeeper Billy Bates, but he couldn’t get enough on it to prevent it from bouncing over the line.

Two minutes later the game was as good as over, as Reynolds netted his second goal of the game. Smith was again the provider, this time with a defence splitting pass from midfield, and Reynolds held off his marker before calmly slotting the ball past the advancing Bates.

Irchester didn’t let their heads drop, and did go close on a couple of occasions from set pieces. Bleu McNeil had the first effort, with a great free kick from 30 yards that flew narrowly wide of Connor Brown’s goal, before an even better effort from Jordan Asher from 25 yards, saw the ball rebound off the post with Brown well beaten.

But two minutes before the break the hosts extended their lead further. An Irchester corner saw Rushden clear the ball and break quickly, with Reynolds’ excellent ball finding Omar Ghavami who used his pace to break clear off the defence before tucking the ball into the bottom corner.

HT: AFC Rushden & Diamonds U18 4-0 Irchester United U18

The second half, by comparison, was a rather quiet affair. Irchester went close to pulling a goal back shortly after the restart when Asher headed towards goal from a left wing corner, but Jamie Inwood was well positioned to head the ball off the line.

A minute later, Smith curled a free kick just over the bar, before Reynolds burst through the middle, laying the ball off to Smith who forced a great save from Bates. From the resulting corner, Ryan Chamberlain headed just over.

The Romans’ best players on the day, McNeil and Asher, combined to create another chance for the visitors, but the latter volleyed over the bar. Asher then had a similar effort shortly after, this time finding the target, only to be denied by an excellent save from Brown.

The final chance of the game fell to Ghavami, who burst through on goal following a lucky ricochet, and although he took the ball around Bates, the visiting ‘keeper recovered well to get back and block his goalbound shot.

FT: AFC Rushden & Diamonds U18 4-0 Irchester United U18

The Diamonds U18s are next in action on Thursday 20th March, when they take on Rushden & Higham United at Hayden Road, 7:45pm kick off.

AFC Rushden & Diamonds U18

Irchester United U18

24. Connor Brown
14. Tom Reeve
2. Jamie Inwood
4. Noah Bryant (c)
20. Ryan Chamberlain
22. Ollie Lee
7. Omar Ghavami
17. Tommy Messinger
9. Matty Smith
10. Jake Reynolds
11. Savvas Hamp

1. Billy Bates
2. Tom Morris
3. Lee Humberstone
4. Tom Doherty
5. Bleu McNeil
6. Eddie Mann
7. Jordan Asher
8. Roberto Solazzo
9. Ethan Goodman
10. Chris Howes
11. Lewis Boulton

Subs:
6. Alex Peters
12. Liam Murphy
16. James Pearson
18. Joe Ackroyd
19. Ben Peaks

Subs:
12. Jack Patching
13. Harry Ware

Goals:
Reynolds (7 mins)
Messinger (19 mins)
Reynolds (21 mins)
Ghavami (43 mins)

Goals:
None