Tottenham U21 1-4 Reading U21: The Future’s Bright

When you talk about teams with a successful youth policy, a number of sides come to mind. Perhaps the most famous youth team in history was Manchester United’s class of ’92, many of whom (including Beckham, Giggs and the Neville brothers) went on to star in the first team for many a year. Others may think of Southampton, who have given us stars such as Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott, or a West Ham academy who brought Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand into the game. Football purists may prefer to consider Crewe Alexandra, who recently fielded an entire starting 11 of youth products, and frequently bring youngsters into the first team and continue to succeed, but as a Reading fan I always find our own academy is a little ignored at times.

Sure, we may not produce world-class players like some teams, but we were able to bring Gylfi Sigurdsson through our academy, who went on to sell for a record fee and is now an established player at Premier League level. Other players who joined us at a young age and spent time in our youth system include Shane Long and Adam Federici, whilst we have also briefly had Charlie Austin, Ji Dong-Won and Connor Wickham in our youth teams in the past as well. At the start of last season a great number of our youngsters got their chance in the first team, and after winning the Premier League U21 cup two years ago a large portion of our fan base are keen to take an interest in some of our brightest prospects too. Even this season we have seen Tarique Fosu and Aaron Tshibola become first-team players, and we know there could well be more on the way.

I try and get to the occasional U21 game, partly because with so many players breaking in to the first team it’s always good to know a little about the prospects who progress through the system. We’re now in the top flight of the academy system, meaning we’re playing against the top sides, and with us due to play away against Tottenham at Stevenage it seemed like a perfect opportunity to go and watch us again. My dad was away for the week on a business trip, so my mum and I headed up with a friend for what would turn out to be an enjoyable evening.

Despite some predictably heavy traffic on the A1M, we managed to reach Stevenage and park up in Fairlands at about 6, with an hour to go until kick-off. Even at that point the gates weren’t open, and so about ten minutes later we paid our £5 to enter and decided to mark out an away fans’ section in the main stand. In the end there were only five Reading supporters there, but it was still quite nice to have a little area, and it turned out that we were next to where all the scouts and other VIPs were sitting. During the game we saw former Spurs legend Pat Jennings, Southend manager Phil Brown (who had taken Tottenham youngsters on loan a fair bit recently) and former Reading boss Brian McDermott. Brian is one of only two men to have taken Reading up to the top flight, and nobody who has anything to do with the club has a single bad word to say about him, so it was fantastic to see him at the match, and when we spoke to him later that evening it was a brilliant bonus.

Neither side had named any recovering players from the senior squads, meaning there were two young line-ups featuring. A number of the Reading squad had been in the U21 team since they were much younger, meaning they had more experience at this level, and Sean Long and Shane Griffin at full back in particular had been playing against this calibre of player for years. On the right wing we featured Lisandro Semedo, a new signing from Sporting Lisbon’s academy who would have played in the same youth team as Eric Dier, and up front we started Rowan Liburd, who we signed from Billericay in the summer and had scored 3 goals in as many games at U21 level this season.

Early in the game Reading started to look the better side, and it only took eight minutes before the visitors took the leads. A good run down the right flank from Semedo ended with a cross into th e box, and a defensive mix-up from Christian Maghoma led to him putting the ball into his own net, putting Spurs 1-0 down. With this early boost, Reading continued to push forward, creating more chances which was helped by Tottenham playing low-tempo football around their defensive line rather than trying to push forward. Eventually Reading were able to score again, with Novakovich (who made his debut for the first team last season, and went on to make a handful of substitute appearances before the end of the campaign) crossing in for Liburd to head home for his fourth goal in four. When half time arrived, the Royals were firmly in the ascendancy and 2-0 looked a solid lead.

In the second half, we extended our lead further after a careless challenge in the box caused the referee to point to the spot, and Fosu made no mistake when he slotted home to make the lead even greater. However, the three-goal lead wasn’t to last for long, as almost instantly after the restart as substitute Anton Walkes scored almost instantly after coming on after a shot inside the box. Instantly Tottenham began to play with more urgency, almost scoring a second within minutes, and Gareth Bale lookalike Kenneth McEvoy shot just wide to really pile the pressure onto Reading.

Despite the Spurs push, Reading managed to add a fourth goal in the 70^th minute. Novakovich once again found Liburd, this time with a ball over the defence, and the striker again showed his quality with a fine finish to restore the three goal advantage. After the goal, both teams had a few chances but never really threatened the goal, and the game eventually fizzled out to end as a commanding win for Reading. With Liburd being taken off on 78 minutes, he has now scored 5 goals in as many hours, and the team are now top of the league. Can we now say we’re the best academy in England?

Watford U21 1-3 Hull City U21: Young Hornets mauled by Tigers

Monday was due to be a day off from football, with a hectic schedule for me just a week after the season started, but with very little notice I decided to make a short journey to watch another game. With Watford being near to St Albans, the two clubs have always had some kind of link between them, but in recent years this seems to have strengthened, with the Hornets sending full strength teams down to Clarence Park for friendlies. For this season, St Albans were set to host U21 development squad fixtures for Watford, as is almost customary for teams to play youth games at nearby lower league grounds.

I always enjoy going to these games, as usually there are a few first team players involved, especially when they are recovering from injury – for instance, Jack Wilshere played against Reading U21 during his return from one of his many knocks last season – and with Watford having such a massive squad, there was a good chance of a few of them playing for the development team to keep up with match fitness. Admission is usually cheap as well, if not free, and tonight I only had to pay £3 to get in, and with no programme it made for a cheap evening out.

Because I decided to go at pretty much the last minute, I got into the ground as the teams were out on the pitch, and as I walked round to take my usual spot on the terrace the game started. I checked Twitter for the teams, and it looked like Watford had quite a strong side out; first team squad member Rene Gilmartin (aged 28, as after all you are allowed some overage players in your team) started in goal, and the centre half pairing was between Tommie Hoban (who played 27 league games last season, and 57 overall for the first team) and Algeria international Essaid Belkalem, who had played 3 games in the 2014 World Cup, including 120 minutes against Germany when the African side held the eventual champions to extra time. The majority of their side had played games for the first team, and many had played internationally at youth level as well. By comparison, I only recognised a couple of names in the Hull team, with Brian Lenihan having played a few Championship matches on loan at Blackpool last season before an injury, and Johan Ter Horst being a name mentioned quite a bit as a promising player.

From the start, Watford looked the more dangerous side, with Bernard Mensah having a couple of chances before firing home just 12 minutes in, but it only took 4 minutes for the Tigers to respond. Some sloppy defensive work (which was a little surprising, considering some of the bigger names in Watford’s team were defenders) led to an easy chance for Will Annan, who made no mistake to draw the visitors level. Suddenly, the away team started to grow in confidence, with Max Clark forcing a fine save from Gilmartin before Ter Horst picked up on a spilled shot to put Hull City ahead. With a lead established, they eased off a little bit but retained control despite a few late attacks by Watford before the interval.

The second half wasn’t quite as exciting as the first, with a bit more long ball being played as the Hornets pushed for an equaliser. A couple of Hull players also started to nag the officials, with Conor Townsend swearing like a trooper at the linesman for an extended period of time – I’m not quite sure why the referee didn’t put his foot down and send him off, as this is the level where they should be teaching the players to respect others within the game. The crowd weren’t too impressed either, and after a pretty fair challenge on him later on there was a threat of the game boiling over and becoming nasty, but the ref kept his cards in his pocket and managed to calm it down.

Hull, despite being in the lead and seeming happy with the result, continued to press a little more, and would have been unhappy to see Jarod Bowden head straight at Gilmartin on the hour mark. However, with 15 minutes to go another spill from Gilmartin led to Taylor Tombides doubling the visitor’s advantage and putting the result beyond doubt. Watford did try and press again, playing some nice passing football in the attacking half, but never really threatened in the final third again, with Mensah being forced to go out wide too often and losing his danger up top. There was almost another fight at the end over what looked like nothing, and I think the referee will be quite pleased to have ended it without too much actually happening.

Perhaps 3-1 was slightly harsh on Watford, who didn’t dominate but likewise weren’t outclassed as the score suggests, but at this level the result seldom matters. A few of these players will surely go out on loan and get some key first team experience, but for now it was good to see a number of decent players play in such a relaxed environment.