Albion U21s v Newcastle U21s - 7pm tonight at the Checkatrade.com Stadium

[AZ Gull]

Albion U-21s bid to win their SECOND league match of the season (yes, you did read that right) when they entertain Peter Beardsley's Newcastle United side at Crawley this evening.

Albion's squad includes second year scholars GK Bailey Vose and LB George Cox and first year midfielder Max Sanders. First year Jayson Molumby, who has become a permanent fixture in the side, is away on international duty with the Republic of Ireland U-17 squad.

Jack Harper, Vahid Hambo, Henrik Bjordal, Jonah Ayunga and the lesser-spotted Ragnar Mar Larusson are also in the squad.

Nathaniel Oseni is also included. A centre-back in his first year as a pro at Man City, he is on his way out of the Etihad. He actually played against the Albion U-21s two months ago when on trial with WBA; he has also spent a couple of weeks on trial at Leicester.


The Newcastle line-up:-

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[AZ Gull]

Albion's starting line-up:-

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And subs bench:-

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[¡Cereal Killer!]

Nice to see Hambo starting

 

[AZ Gull]

Newcastle are fielding an extremely young side. Their starting 11 includes 6 first year scholars and 2 second years. The bench is made up of 3 first years and 2 second years. It is more like an U-18 side.

Albion REALLY should win this fixture.

 

[AZ Gull]

Will Collar gives Albion the lead:-

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[perseus]

Newcastle are fielding an extremely young side. Their starting 11 includes 6 first year scholars and 2 second years. The bench is made up of 3 first years and 2 second years. It is more like an U-18 side.

Albion REALLY should win this fixture.

http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20160323/toney-to-return-for-under-21s_2281670_5436605?

http://www.seagulls.co.uk/news/arti...1s-host-newcastle-united-tonight-3022626.aspx

 

[Peter Grummit]

Nice to see Hambo starting

He only lasted 45".

PG

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Stefan Broccoli.

Will we see him steaming down the wing?

 

[topbanana36]

1-1

 

[AZ Gull]

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[AZ Gull]

He only lasted 45".

PG

He has missed virtually the entire season through injury. He played 22 minutes against Stoke on Saturday; I'm sure the plan all along was to limit his game time tonight.

 

[AZ Gull]

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So, Albion U-21s can only draw with Newcastle's U-18s.

One win in 19 league matches this season; only 13 goals scored (the next lowest of any of the 24 Cat One clubs is Wolves, with 19).

Not great.

 

[spence]

I've watched two games this season and we have been absolutely gash

 

[RM-Taylor]

Deen and Doherty both not involved following returning from loan spells at Hastings United.

 

[Pondicherry]

Just back from the game. We started impressively and deservedly took the lead. We did look a physically big side compared to Newcastle. We had several more chances to go further ahead but could not take them. Newcastle created less chances but probably just about deserved a point.

First time i have seen Hambo play and he was poor. Dont know if that is due to lack of games or not. He was physically massive compared to their central defenders and should have dominated them - but didn't. Had one clear chance but blasted over as he went to hit it as hard as he could with head up. He looks miles away from being a first team player.

Game was played at 100mph and there was very little time on the ball for any players. Pitch did not help ball playing either. Both teams had plenty of skillful players but no one stood out or dominated in any way for me. If we get promoted to the premiership i can not see any way any of these will get anywhere near the first team. They do not really look championship standard either. I guess our better youngsters are out on loan.

Enjoyed the game in any case.

 

[spence]

The Broadfield stadium is a good venue to hold these sort of matches isn't it?

 

[Pondicherry]

Yes - there were a couple of hundred people there so venue was fine. Pitch is what you would expect at this time of year at a league 2 ground.

 

[Turkey]

We really should have won that quite comfortably. So many chances to add to our lead.

Newcastle to be fair, played very well on the counter, kept their wingers high up on our full backs and got a lot of joy from them.

Hambo was very unfit, could see him struggling long before half time. Obviously working his way back from injury so wouldn't be too critical, he still offers a good presence up front.

I thought Harper looked more settled than when I last saw him. Looked like he was alongside Hambo to begin with but tended to drop into the hole between midfield and attack. Tidy and had a showed a few moments of quality but didn't really have a big impact on the game. I liked the look of Bjørdal.

 

[BensGrandad]

Did nybody look like they are near a 1st team spot or able to step up in an emergency

 

[ChazzyBHA]

I thought Henrik Bjordal was fantastic tonight. In the first-half he ran the show, he was calm on the ball and clearly has a lot of flair about his game. He managed to set up 3 good opportunities that Hambo and Harper both missed, and he got the assist for the first goal. He faded out in the second half, but showed real promise tonight. Harper unfortunately didn't look great in my opinion. He is very lightweight and can be pushed around by the opposition very easily, at a few points tonight he had the opportunity to play a basic pass forward and instead went for the fancy flick, which the Albion bench were not impressed with. However he will improve over time, he has the ability there that the coaching staff can work with. Hambo missed 2 great chances, one of these being a free shot within 10 yards of the goal which he managed to blast over. But again, Hambo shows promising signs, he is very good at holding off a player and seems to be a real threat in the air. Next season will be interesting to see how far these players can develop, as injuries have limited their game time this season.