Aston Villa U21 3-3 Fulham U21

A last-gasp Bradley De Jesus goal saw Fulham Under-21s come from 2-0 down to draw 3-3 at Aston Villa in PL2.

Our Young Whites were left with a mountain to climb as the impressive Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba scored a brace to hand Villa an early two-goal advantage.

But our lads responded, scoring two goals in three minutes to bring the match level, as Aaron Loupalo-Bi and Terrell Works found the back of the net.

Bradley Burrowes ensured Villa would head into the break with the advantage, but after a barrage of pressure in the second-half, De Jesus popped up at the back post in the dying seconds to earn Hayden Mullins' side a valuable point.

Villa started on the front foot as Eddy Nsasi was on the stretch to cut out Kadan Young’s dangerous cross, before Jimoh-Aloba saw a header soar over the bar from the resulting corner.

Marco Underwood, in for his first U21s start of the season in the absence of Alex Borto, pulled off an impressive stop to tip wide Kyrie Pierre’s curling shot.

All of that was within the first five minutes – and it was in the eighth minute that the hosts took the lead as Jimoh-Aloba arrowed a powerful shot beyond Underwood and into the bottom corner.

Kristian Šekularac was back in the starting XI after missing a couple of games with a tight hamstring – and he was only denied by the side netting as he danced into the box and unleashed an effort towards goal with his left foot.

Our Young Whites couldn’t have gone much closer when Lemar Gordon put in a teasing cross towards the back post, but Damon Park couldn’t guide the ball to his desired destination with his head, with the effort dropping just wide of the post.

Underwood would have had his heart in his mouth when Aidan Borland used the harsh wind to his advantage, shooting from a free-kick from 40 yards, but our goalkeeper adjusted well to tip the ball over the bar.

Midway through the first-half, the powerful Jimoh-Aloba showed twinkle toes to wriggle into our box and finish past Underwood to double the hosts’ lead.

Loupalo-Bi’s eye-catching form continued, scoring his fifth goal in four games as he latched onto a ball down the middle of the pitch and made no mistake when one-on-one with Sam Lewis.

Our striker then turned provider as we found an equaliser, backheeling the ball into the path of Works, who took a couple of touches before sliding an effort into the bottom corner.

But our hard work was immediately undone as Burrowes finished emphatically past Underwood to complete an epic first-half of scoring.

After the break, it was Mullins' side who were on top as Olyott produced a fine diving stop from Lewis, Šekularac was denied again by the side netting and Jon Esenga saw a thunderous strike towards goal blocked on the line.

Jimoh-Aloba was a whisker away from grabbing a hat-trick with 10 minutes to play as he tried to pick out the top corner from the edge of the area, only to see it fly over.

With the final seconds ticking away, Works drilled a low ball across the face of goal and De Jesus was waiting at the far post to stick it into an empty net.

After an intense period of four games in nine days across three different competitions, our U21s now face a two week break from action, and will return to PL2 matters on Monday 10th February when Middlesbrough visit Motspur Park, 7pm kick-off.