Fulham U18 2-1 Southampton U18

Fulham Under-18s returned to league action with a 2-1 victory over Southampton at Motspur Park.

It was Ali Melloul’s side’s first league fixture since November 9^th and it was marked with three points thanks to goals from Farhaan Ali Wahid and Macaulay Zepa.

On a sunny January morning in KT3, it took until the 12^th minute for the first chance to arrive as Seth Ridgeon wriggled into the area but couldn’t generate enough power on his shot to truly trouble Oscar Abbotson.

Southampton immediately responded with a chance of their own as Harry Gathercole tested Dino Kaiser from 18 yards with a driven strike.

A flurry of Saints opportunities arrived on the half hour mark. Kaiser crawled across his line to make an impressive save from Gathercole, before the woodwork was hit on the follow up.

Substitute Tino Goremusandu then missed a sitter shortly after, failing to hit the target despite having plenty of time to pick his spot at the back post.

There was time for one more chance in a half that the visitors largely controlled, but James Martin leant back too much when striking from 20 yards, seeing his shot fly over the bar.

It was Martin who recorded the first effort of the second period, testing Kaiser early with a curling left-footed shot, which our young goalkeeper was more than equal to.

But despite coming under a lot of pressure, it was our Young Whites who took the lead, with Ali Wahid scoring his third goal in two games, bending the ball past Abbotson and into the bottom corner.

All of a sudden, there was a confidence about Melloul’s side as Tom Wingate stung the palms of Abbotson, before the goalkeeper rushed out to make a big save to deny Aidan Evans.

Zepa wrapped up the game with 10 minutes to play, applying the finishing touch on a devastating counter attack, sliding the ball underneath Abbotson.

A late Nicolas Oyekunle goal ensured that it was going to be a nervy ending for our Young Whites, but we held on for a vital three points.

Our U18s are next in action on Friday 31^st January, as Arsenal visit Motspur Park in the FA Youth Cup, 7pm kick-off.