U18 Premier League North
Leeds United U18 3 (Bhaskaran 13’, White 42’ 62’)
Middlesbrough U18 1 (Tohill 10’)
Leeds: Wood (GK), Walker, Balmer (Massey 89’), Whitehead, Megson, Mensah (Ibrovic-Fletcher 60’), Bhaskaran (C), Bennett (Mexes 72’), Thompson, White. Subs not used: Banks, Bridge, Heywood, Hitchen.
Middlesbrough: Richardson, Shaw (Wager 45’), Simmons, Edmundson, Tremain, Taylor (Brumpton 45’), Carpenter, Jones (C), Tohill, Turner (Pawlak 45’), Linacre. Subs not used: Hounsell, Diagouraga, Sillick, Brown.
Venue: Thorp Arch | Referee: Neil Howlett | Booked: Walker (Leeds)
Leeds United Under-18s put in a convincing performance to beat Middlesbrough Under-18s 3-1 at Thorp Arch.
Attacker Logan White carried on his excellent form for the campaign with a brace, continuing his 100 per cent record of scoring in every match this season. The 17-year-old now has eight goals in just six league outings.
It was not immediately plain sailing though, as the home side breathed a huge collective sigh of relief after five minutes when visiting captain Joseph Jones dragged a penalty wide, following a foul on Eamonn Tohill in United’s penalty area.
Then, a mistake in the midfield led to Middlesbrough’s attackers regaining possession in a dangerous position. Tohill received a pass inside the Leeds box before turning and shooting into the bottom left corner to put the visitors one goal up.
Rob Etherington’s side were not deterred by this stroke of bad luck and equalised almost immediately thanks to a wonderful strike from captain Joe Bhaskaran. He received a defence splitting pass from Loui Whitehead after an extended spell of possession down the right wing and fired a powerful effort home to restore parity.
After a frenetic, end-to-end opening, the game then fell away into a scrappier affair with neither side being able to create any clear-cut chances. Leeds controlled more of the ball which led to them finally being able to increase the pressure on the away side’s goal.
The reward to this came just before the break when Bhaskaran received the ball in a similar position to where he scored from after a great pass from Alfie Walker. This time, the captain fired low from a tighter angle, seeing his shot parried away. However, on hand at the back post to tuck the ball home and continue his exceptional early season goalscoring tally was White who made no mistake.
HALF TIME: Leeds United U18 2-1 Middlesbrough U18
The opening to the second half was a bit more controlled with Leeds dominating possession but not creating a host of big chances.
Yet the hosts were patient and this was rewarded just after the hour mark. A ball played down the right saw Walker free to drive into acres of space, bringing about a three-on-one attack for the hosts.
He charged all the way from the halfway line into the Middlesbrough box, before squaring a pass to White who got the ball out of his feet and fired a powerful strike past the ‘keeper from close range.
Leeds went close to extending the lead late on as Aiden Thompson saw an effort blocked on the line by a recovering defender before being cleared away.
The full-time whistle sounded shortly afterwards, rounding off a great win for Etherington’s young side who had dominated after falling behind early on. Next up for United is a trip to Wearside to face Sunderland U18s.
FULL TIME: Leeds United U18 3-1 Middlesbrough U18
