Fulham U23 3-0 Birmingham U23

Fulham Under-23s got themselves back on the winning trail, beating Birmingham City 3-0 on Friday night.

An early Luke Harris header and a quality Adrion Pajaziti strike had us ahead before substitute Ollie O'Neill added another late on.

Steve Wigley made six changes to the side that were held to a 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough before the international break.

Alfie McNally started in goal, with Devan Tanton at right-back and Tyrese Francois coming in for Matt Dibley-Dias in midfield. Jay Stansfield, Kieron Bowie and Harris all featured in attack.

The young Whites made a brilliant start and were quickly rewarded. Tanton swung in a superb delivery towards Welshman Harris, who nodded in at the back post with a coolness he's become accustomed to this season.

Jobe Bellingham connected with a Jordan James free kick a few minutes later for the visitors, but he could only direct his effort wide. On the quarter of an hour mark, Birmingham’s Rico Browne fired a bicycle kick attempt over.

Blues’ captain and goalkeeper Zach Jeacock was called into action up the other end immediately after, blocking Bowie’s low driven effort.

The away side continued to search for the equaliser, with Bellingham again taking aim as we approached the half hour mark. Our defence stood firm and blocked a couple of decent efforts from inside the danger area.

Adrion Pajaziti doubled our advantage on 38 minutes, drilling a powerful left-footed strike into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Just seconds earlier, Harris blazed an effort over after some excellent build-up play involving Sonny Hilton and Stansfield.

Stansfield almost added a third at the end of the first period, but couldn’t quite control Hilton’s excellent ball across the six-yard box.

Our youngsters had to soak up pressure at times, but went in at the break two goals up.

Birmingham came out swinging and almost scored soon after the restart. George Hall shifted the ball onto his left before watching as his venomous shot rattled the crossbar.

McNally was on his toes a few minutes later to get down and gather Kieron Wakefield’s close-range volley.

Our lads were having to really dig deep against a determined set of opposition players. The crossbar came to our rescue again soon after, when James’ effort from miles out rattled the woodwork.

On 75 minutes, Stansfield played an absolutely stunning pass to Hilton and very nearly finished the move off too, heading just wide. His through-ball gathered quite the reaction from our spectators at Motspur Park.

McNally made a decent save to deny Oriel Soldevila, whose hit from a tight angle was palmed away.

Substitute Jonathon Page then had his long range hit directed onto the post after Jeacock made a good save.

O'Neill put the game to bed in the dying stages, coolly slotting home to add the third.

A solid performance and all three points for the young Whites.