Capping off a week-long training camp in Cork, Jamie Carr’s young charges gave a good account of themselves against their slightly older counterparts from the League of Ireland outfit and we fully deserved the 2-1 half-time lead given to us by a brace from Ezra Agyekum.
However, after Orion Cala had cracked home an unstoppable shot to get Waterford off the mark in the first period, two further long-range efforts from Romeo Lapite and Aaron Brennan – both running onto loose balls and hitting the target at the first time of asking – saw our opponents turn the game around in the second half. We managed to find a second wind as the match progressed, substitutes Zion Beckles and Melvyn Kabongolo both seeing shots well saved, but ultimately we couldn’t muster an equaliser.
Waterford came to Fota Island – where our squad has trained all week – and threatened with a couple of early corners but we produced some dangerous deliveries at the other end before taking an 11th-minute lead with a slick passing move that ended with Toju Wellspring playing in Agyekum in an advanced position on the right to blast home from the angle.
Filip Wasilewski’s deflected low shot was sharply saved down to his right by our 15-year-old goalkeeper Mikel Jack at the other end, but the talented young stopper could do nothing to prevent Cala’s rasping 20-yard shot from crashing home on 24 minutes after Wasilewski had darted between defenders in our left-back area to tee him up.
Striker Phoenix Offiah sent a looping header just off target and then had an effort disallowed for offside following a mistake at the back from Waterford before we made our impressive spell of pressure count with a second goal on 32 minutes. It all started with an excellent run down the right by Oscar Sandiford, his delivery saw captain Conall Glancy hit the post but we kept the ball alive in the opponents’ box and it eventually came to Agyekum, who blasted home through a mass of defenders to make it 2-1.
Glancy flashed an effort high across the face of goal from the right as we finished the first half in control, but our opponents threatened more after the restart and equalised again on 56 minutes when Cala caused us problems down Waterford’s left and the ball wasn’t fully dealt with, allowing Lapite to run onto it 22 yards out and lash home.
Five minutes later, we conceded in similar fashion, a ball coming across from Waterford’s left with Brennan this time running onto it and drilling low in off the far post. A superb goal-line clearance from Solomon Olajide prevented Jack Garrett from extending his side’s lead after he rounded goalkeeper Jack, with the same player firing across goal and wide on the break a few moments later.
We went back on the attack in search of a reply, Beckles’ curler brilliantly tipped away with Kabongolo also having an angled drive saved from inside the box on the right, but we couldn’t find another breakthrough and it was Waterford’s Peter Byrne who went closest at the end, the midfielder sending a glancing effort just beyond the far stick. Despite the scoreline, it was an excellent work-out for our young side to round off the week across the water.
‘A game that felt like a real challenge’
Under-18s Coach Jamie, back in his home country, felt there were a number of positives to take from the match: “It was the perfect pre-season game for us – really competitive from an opposition point of view and it provided us with an opportunity to apply some of the stuff that we’ve been working on over the last few weeks in a game that felt like a real challenge, which is what the boys needed,” he said.
“We always want to go and win every game but when you think of the bigger picture, the stage of pre-season that we’re at and the opposition that we were playing against, the priorities were, from a physical point of view, getting the minutes under our belts. You can still see we’re at a stage where the players haven’t played a lot of games yet, both technically and from a decision-making point of view, so we’ve got lots of work to do on that but we’ve got games coming up where we’re going to refine all those things and continue to make progress.”
Line-ups
Waterford: Bacela, Brennan, McDonald, Cala, Lapite, Barrett, Pululu, Byrne, Wozniak, Keohan, Wasilewski. Substitutes: Power, Zborowski, O’Brien, Garrett, Capocci, Murphy.
Spurs: Jack, Sandiford (Larwence 60), Agyekum, Olajide, Evans (Jobling 46), Wellspring (Ball 60), Vidal-Philbert (Kabongolo 46), Coffi Smith (Beckles 46), Offiah (Haughton-Sinclair 60), Glancy (c), Salter. Substitute (not used): O’Malley-Short.
Match data
Goals: Waterford – Cala 24, Lapite, 56, Brennan 61; Spurs – Agyekum 11, 32.
Yellow cards: Waterford – McDonald 60, Lapite 68, Pululu 71; Spurs – Glancy 41.
Venue: Fota Island, Cork.
Weather: Bright, light cloud, 22 degrees.