Fulham U21 0-1 Nottingham Forest U21

Fulham Under-21s were defeated 1-0 by Nottingham Forest on Monday evening.

Despite a controlled display, in which our Young Whites dominated possession and had countless opportunities from corners, it was Forest who scored from a corner of their own, with Zach Abbott nodding home the only goal of the game.

Joel Ndala was a livewire down the left-hand side, going on a mazy run and reaching the byline, but he failed to find a Forest shirt on the cutback.

It took a little white for our youngsters to get into their stride, but Lemar Gordon almost unlocked the visitors’ backline with a curling cross, which was cleared behind by Jimmy Sinclair.

From the resulting corner, the crossbar was struck, although Samuel Amissah didn’t know much about his attempt at goal, with Callum Osmand’s flick striking our defender on its way through.

The studs of George Murray-Jones prevented Hayden Mullins’ side from taking the lead, with the goalkeeper making an impressive stop after Josh King had skipped into the box.

Forest took the lead against the run of play as Abbott lost his man from a corner at the back post and nodded the ball beyond Michael Allen.

The Fulham corner count was ticking into double digits by this point, and after Esenga saw another in-swinger cleared, Matt Dibley-Dias let fly from the edge of the box, only for Kyle McAdam to throw himself in the way of the shot.

15 minutes into the second period, Murray-Jones made a smart stop to keep out Osmand at his near post, before the ‘keeper gratefully held onto Terrell Works’ low drive.

A devastating counter-attack from Forest put the visitors in a five-on-two situation, and they worked the ball well to Ndala, but he was adjudged to be offside as he finished coolly past Allen.

In truth, it was Forest who looked the more likely in the latter stages, as Chibby Nwoko ensured the score stayed at 1-0 with a brave block in front of Sinclair.

Our U21s return to action at Brighton on Friday 14th March, 7pm kick-off.