Sheffield Utd U18 3-0 Fulham U18

Fulham Under-18s' Premier League Cup journey came to an end at the quarter-final stage, after losing 3-0 to Sheffield United on Saturday.

The young Blades grabbed two goals in the first half before extending their lead midway through the second. Our young side applied plenty of pressure but couldn't quite break down a resolute defence.

We named a younger side for our Premier League Cup test, with Under-16s Eddie Nsasi and Sam Amissah both keeping their place and starting at right-back and centre-back respectively.

From left to right, Lemar Gordon, Aaron Loupalo-Bi and Terrell Works formed our ever-present front three.

Just as our 18s would have predicted, it was a physical game in the opening stages, with the first real moment of quality coming from Fulham. Delano McCoy-Splatt’s decent effort from range was pushed onto the post by Blades goalkeeper Luke Faxon.

Just a couple of minutes later, Loupalo-Bi took aim but his shot was straight at the ‘keeper. We were beginning to turn the screw in Yorkshire.

The woodwork played its part again on 16 minutes, but up the other end. Sam Aston’s attempted cross almost caught Michael Allen out at his near post but struck the crossbar.

We found ourselves behind just before the half-hour mark, when Jayden Prunty was in the right place to head home after a neatly worked set piece routine.

The hosts doubled their advantage with just over five minutes of the half remaining. Aston’s effort from the left-hand side took a deflection before finding the bottom right corner. Allen could do nothing but watch on as the ball looped over and in.

We gave ourselves plenty to do, going in at half-time two goals down.

The home side were lucky not to be reduced to 10 men soon after the restart, with a Blades man lunging in on Ollie Gofford with his studs showing. To the disbelief of our players and staff, only a yellow was shown.

We wish a speedy recovery for Gofford, who was helped off the pitch and replaced by Under-16s midfielder Jayden Quashie.

We were applying all the pressure but conceded a third just after the hour mark. Allen did well to make a diving save, but the loose ball rolled out to Kurtis Havenhand who tapped home.

Josh King and Bradley De Jesus came on to help us push for a goal back, with the former making a decent run down the right before having his cross cleared.

McCoy-Splatt found himself with time and space and opted to go for goal, but his powerful strike was rifled over.

Up the other end, sub goalie Dino Kaiser made an excellent save for us, sprinting off his line to block an effort from point-blank range.

We pushed right until the final whistle but our cup progress was put to an end in Yorkshire. The young Whites now turn their attention to a huge FA Youth Cup tie against Southampton on Tuesday.