League1 BC Selects 1-1 Fulham U21s

Fulham Under-21s put in an impressive performance as we drew 1-1 with League1 BC Selects in our last game of the Kamloops International Cup.

Aaron Loupalo-Bi’s headed opener was quickly cancelled out by a driven Joel Badger strike, with a penalty shootout played to decide the contest, which LG1 BC Selects won 8-7.

Early on, Terrell Works was caught in possession, allowing Victory Shumbusho to take aim from 10 yards out, but Eddy Nsasi made a brave block.

Some neat combination play down our right side between Chris Donnell and Tom Olyott created a chance for Callum Osmand in the box, with Matheus De Souza getting in the way of the shot.

From the resulting corner, LG1 BC Selects pounced on the counter attack in a two-v-one situation, but Nsasi found the perfect balance of cutting off a passing lane while also not allowing a shot on goal as he defended the situation with great composure and positional awareness.

Our opening goal was a beautifully crafted one, with plenty of patience required. The ball was moved from the left side to the right, with the free-roaming Kristian Šekularac picking out Loupalo-Bi with an inviting cross, as the striker’s bullet header found the back of the net in the 33rd minute.

Four minutes later, Šekularac was again at the centre of a smart move, playing a defence-splitting pass with the outside of his right boot into Osmand, but the striker’s powerful shot was agonisingly wide.

The equaliser came on the stroke of the interval as Joey Buchanan played a searching diagonal pass to release Badger down the right side, who drilled a low strike past Marco Underwood.

A similar chance fell to Badger just after the break as he found space down the right, but this effort flew just wide.

Osmand was then set free down the left side after being picked out by a pinpoint Underwood diagonal, with De Souza making himself big to deny the striker.

De Souza was on a mission to stop Osmand as he made another smart stop just a couple of minutes later. Showing brilliant close control after being found in the box by Nwoko, the striker hit a powerful shot towards the bottom corner, with De Souza springing to his right to parry the effort.

Osmand turned provider in the 56th minute, holding the ball up and finding the lively Šekularac on the edge of the box, with his right-footed shot curling just over the bar.

Down the right side, Badger was a constant threat, and he stung the palms of Underwood with another impressive shot from a tight angle on the hour mark.

Lemar Gordon almost made an immediate impact after replacing Works, but De Souza beat away his shot after being played in by Šekularac.

Despite creating a number of chances in the second period, the closest Hayden Mullins’ side came to scoring was when Oliver Gofford had a shot cleared off the line after the ball fell to him on the edge of the box.

Opportunities to win the game still fell to our Young Whites, with Loupalo-Bi unable to convert a couple of low, fizzed crosses.

Our pre-season tour in Canada concluded with a penalty shootout, with LG1 BC Selects scoring all of their spot kicks to win 8-7.

Mullins’ side will return to the UK on Monday as they continue preparations for the Premier League 2 opener away at Crystal Palace on Friday 16th August.