Fulham U21s 7-1 Reading U21s

Fulham Under-21s produced a scintillating display to defeat Reading 7-1 at Motspur Park on Friday night.

A Kristian Šekularac header was followed up by a brace each for Terrell Works and Adrion Pajaziti as the Young Whites established a commanding lead in the first half.

Pajaziti completed his hat-trick from the spot in the first minute of the second half, before Devan Tanton made it seven.

The Royals did nab a late consolation, but it did little to dampen the Fulham spirits on a wet PL2 night in New Malden.

A fantastic start saw the Whites take the lead in the seventh minute when Šekularac’s run to the edge of the six yard box saw him picked out by Pajaziti’s outswinging corner, with the winger expertly looping his header over goalkeeper Harvey Collins and in off the far post.

The lead was almost doubled when Works cut inside onto his right foot, but bent just wide of the target from the edge of the box.

Slick work down the Fulham right saw Tanton clip a cross into Callum Osmand, but the in-form striker’s header was too close to Collins.

A lovely one-two between Josh King and Šekularac on 24 minutes ended with a shooting chance for the former, but Collins got down well to deny our England youth international.

A lot of Fulham’s best work had come down the right, but it was the opposite flank from which we doubled our lead. A lovely team move involving a number of players culminated in Works opening his body up and placing a low shot across Collins and into the bottom corner.

We hadn’t seen much of Reading as an attacking outfit, but that changed with Jahmari Clarke’s powerful run, with only a brave Harvey Araujo block denying the striker.

A stunning third almost arrived just after the half hour mark. Luc De Fougerolles sent a beautiful diagonal across the pitch to pick out the barnstorming run of left-back Georgios Okkas. He then cut back to Osmand whose rasping strike was heading for the top of the net, only to be denied by the fingertips of Collins.

Number three was imminent, though, and once again it demonstrated the Šekularac-Pajaziti link-up. This time it was Pajaziti who found the net, rounding Collins for a simple finish following a crisp one-two with his teammate.

A stunning half was rounded off when Pajaziti doubled his tally. Tanton spotted him unmarked and dinked over a cross, and Pajaziti’s half volley looped over the stranded Collins for 4-0.

The Young Whites were not done there, though, capitalising when Reading failed to clear a corner through Works who poked home his second of the night from an acute angle.

Fulham started the second half how they ended the first, Pajaziti completing his hat-trick by rolling a cool penalty into the bottom left corner, after King had been hauled down in the box.

Reading should have pulled one back when the ball bounced kindly to send Clarke one-on-one with Alfie McNally. The Royals forward rounded our ‘keeper, but a brilliant last ditch sliding tackle from substitute Bradley Slade denied him an open goal.

To rub salt into Berkshire wounds, the Young Whites went straight up the other end to make it 7-0 – a scoreline that surely sends a shudder down the spines of all Reading fans when it comes to Fulham – courtesy of Tanton’s drilled finish from an acute angle.

Seconds after coming on, Lemar Gordon was picked out by Slade’s eye-of-the-needle pass. His shot was kept out by Collins, with neither King nor Osmand able to tuck the loose ball in.

Collins in the visiting goal had not been at fault all evening, but his best save of the night came with quarter of an hour to play when he denied Gordon at full stretch.

Unfortunately, there was to be no clean sheet for the Young Whites, Jeremiah Okine-Peters robbing them of that feather in the cap when he lashed in after being picked out by Adrian Akande.

Gordon had deserved a goal for his endeavours since coming on, and he nearly got it in the closing stages of normal time, but his placed effort was hacked away from near the line with the ‘keeper beaten.

The Fulham winger then turned provider in stoppage time for fellow sub Aaron Loupalo-Bi, but he suffered the same fate, seeing his shot cleared before it could cross the line, with the final chance of the night.