Crystal Palace U18 1-0 Fulham U18

Fulham Under-18s slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in what was their final game of the season.

Ali Melloul made a few changes for the London clash. Tyler Caton was introduced in midfield, while on the wing Michael Olakigbe came in for Lemar Gordon. Alfie McNally replaced Michael Allen in between the sticks.

The hosts came quickly out of the traps. Captain Joe Sheridan headed just over after latching onto a dangerous corner early on.

We responded excellently, though, with Olakigbe cutting in a trying his luck after being fed down the line by George Okkas. His effort was deflected out for a corner.

McNally made his first save 10 minutes in, reacting quickly to parry a powerful deflected strike. Both sides showed glimpses of their threat in the opening stages.

The young Eagles struck first on the 27-minute mark. Victor Akinwale calmly chipped the ball over McNally after getting on the end of a clever pass.

Delano McCoy-Splatt could’ve got us on level terms just before the break after some great link-up play with Terrell Works. The midfielder worked his way into the area before spraying his low effort wide.

The home side went in at the break one goal to the good.

Palace’s Ademola Ola-Adebomi almost added a second straight after the break, when his header at the back post was blocked.

Olly Sanderson did well to test goalkeeper Laurence Shala soon after, poking the ball towards goal after getting on the end of an Olakigbe delivery. The ball was dealt with fairly comfortably in the end.

It was all Fulham for the next 15 minutes, as the lads tried desperately to look for a way through. We got into some promising areas but the Palace back line stood firm.

After a quieter spell, McNally made a great save with 10 minutes to go, making himself big to somehow block a venomous close-range shot.

The lads had a couple of late efforts well blocked before eventually running out of time.