[Albion] Aston Villa U18s v Albion U18s, FAYC 4th round, Villa Park, tonight 7pm

[AZ Gull]

Albion U-18s are in action tonight as they head to Villa Park to take on Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup (the most prestigious U-18 competition). The side will certainly be up for it, not least because their head coach, Mark Beard, is a previous winner of the competition with Millwall.

This is one of the toughest draws Albion could have had; it is actually a repeat of the match-up from December 2011 when Albion won a 3rd round tie at the Amex with a goal from Jake Forster-Caskey. The Villa side that night included a certain Jack Grealish, and Callum Robinson (now at WBA). Nobody from Albion's line-up that night is still on the playing staff, although Ryan Cooper was (and may still be) involved in the academy as a coach. The side did include Bradley Barry (now at Barrow), Rob Hunt (now at Swindon Town) and Luton Town's Glen Rea was an unused substitute.

Albion beat Woking 5-1 in the third round with a hat-trick from Matt Everitt and a goal apiece for Cam Peupion (who is apparently injured as he hasn't featured for a month) and Jack Leahy (who has since left the club after not being offered a professional contract). The U-18s are in excellent form having won their last 6 matches while scoring 20 goals in the process.

For those who don't particularly follow the U-18s, you can see profiles of the 2nd-year scholars here - Albion 1st-year scholars for 2019-20 - and of the 1st-year scholars here - New Albion scholars 2020-21 - Player profiles.

Albion haven't yet faced Villa in the U-18 Premier League South; they were due to meet in December but that match was postponed due to both teams' involvement in the FAYC 3rd round. In fact, Albion face Villa three times in their next 5 matches; after tonight, their next fixture in the league is away at Villa on Saturday April 3rd.

Irish midfielder Andrew Moran has scored 10 goals this season (including 5 against Leicester City!). Matt Everitt has 8 goals, and left-winger Marcus Ifill has been in fine form recently and has six goals on the season. Forward Zak Enmmerson didn't feature until the end of October but has notched 9 goals since then.

The match is available to stream from Villa, but for a payment of £1.99:-

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[AZ Gull]

The Albion line up:-

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and the Villa line up:-

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[AZ Gull]

For those who will watch the stream: Albion will line up with Swede Casper Nilsson at right-back, Zak Sturge at left-back, with Ed Turns and Odel Offiah in the centre. Samy Chouchane and Toby Collyer are central midfielders. Zak Emmerson is a centre-forward. Marcus Ifill will be out wide with Everitt and Moran providing goal-involvement threats from midfield/attack.

 

[AZ Gull]

Louie Barry at Villa is particularly highly-rated. Originally at West Brom, he signed a three-year deal with Barcelona in July 2019. He returned to England with Villa in January 2020 for a fee that could rise to £3.5M with add-ons.

 

[ifightbears]

The Albion line up:-

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and the Villa line up:-

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Most of that Villa team have been playing u23 in the pl2 this year so I think we have our work cut out here. However the fact all of our boys have been playing together (and really well) will hopefully work in our favour.

 

[ifightbears]

Most of that Villa team have been playing u23 in the pl2 this year so I think we have our work cut out here. However the fact all of our boys have been playing together (and really well) will hopefully work in our favour.

Not sure why my comment is part of the quote!

 

[AZ Gull]

Excellent early chance for Emmerson, set up by Moran.

 

[drew]

Is there a stream?

 

[AZ Gull]

Is there a stream?

Read the opening post.

 

[Uter]

Excellent early chance for Emmerson, set up by Moran.

Moran (judging by his tweets we all pronounce it wrong) looks a fabulous talent.

 

[AZ Gull]

Referee bottled it, that's as clear a sending-off as you are ever going to see.

 

[Change at Barnham]

The Villa defender got away with one there!
In my opinion that should have been a red card for pulling down the Brighton striker with only the keeper to beat.

 

[Driver8]

Yep, clear red card.

 

[AZ Gull]

0-0 at half-time.

Well, we've certainly been under the cosh; thankfully, Villa are as impotent in front of goal as our first team.

We definitely pose a threat on the break though.

And Villa should be down to 10 men.

 

[albionfan37]

0-0 at half-time.

Well, we've certainly been under the cosh; thankfully, Villa are as impotent in front of goal as our first team.

We definitely pose a threat on the break though.

And Villa should be down to 10 men.

I thought the first 20 mins were pretty even but then they started pressing very well they look huge compared to our lads too. As you say we look like we want to counter them and they deffo should be down to 10 men

 

[Change at Barnham]

We'll need to keep hold of the ball a bit more if we want to try and start threatening. I would guess that Villa have had about 65/70% possession.
Villa have got themselves into some good positions around the edge of our box but seem afraid to pull the trigger.

Hopefully a nice sweeping move out of defence will allow us to score a goal on the break. But at the moment Villa look like favourites to win the game.

H-T Villa 0 Brighton 0

 

[The Fits]

C'mon Yoof!

 

[AZ Gull]

Excellent early chance for Emmerson, set up by Moran.

And now Emmerson lays the ball off for Moran who fires just past the post.

 

[AZ Gull]

1-0 Villa (Kesler).

It's been coming.

 

[Change at Barnham]

Villa go 1-0 up.
A deserved lead which should now see Brighton come out a bit more.