Our Under-21s’ Vertu Trophy campaign began in gripping fashion on Tuesday night as our young side battled out a 4-4 draw at Bristol Rovers, playing the last 25 minutes with 10 men before losing the subsequent penalty shootout 5-4.
Leading 3-0 inside 16 minutes and playing some superb stuff at times, a key moment arrived mid-way through the second half when goalkeeper Sam Archer saw red for his challenge on Ryan Howley outside the box with the score at 4-2.
Isaac Hutchinson fired the resulting free-kick past substitute goalkeeper Aaron Maguire before Rovers substitute Fabrizio Cavegn levelled it up four minutes later. At that stage, the hosts were in the ascendancy but we dug in superbly to see out the game despite the disadvantage in numbers and earn a point in Southern Group B.
However, there was more drama in the subsequent shootout for an extra point – after we’d trailed early on, Maguire made a crucial save to give Calum Logan a chance to win it for us, but his deft effort was kept out by former Leicester City goalkeeper Brad Young, who subsequently pulled off a superb stop to deny James Rowswell and give his side the win.
It was an enthralling game and in truth, the share of the initial spoils was the least we deserved as well-taken goals from Luca Williams-Barnett and Yusuf Akhamrich, bookended by two equally clinical efforts from Tynan Thompson, put us in the driving seat for much of the contest. Williams-Barnett pulled off two sublime pieces of individual skill to go close twice in the second period – either one could have proved decisive, but in the end we had to settle for a solitary point before suffering penalty shootout disappointment.
There were strange similarities to our visit to the Memorial Stadium in this competition last season where honours ended even at 3-3 before the game went to penalties. There was a different narrative for us this time, however, with two 16-year-olds and two 17-year-olds in a particularly youthful starting line-up – including both centre-halves – and they were among many who came out in credit after a mature display against our senior hosts, who had kept back-to-back home clean sheets in League Two coming into the contest.
One of the youngsters, Malachi Hardy, made a miraculous early goal-line clearance to deny Ollie Dewsbury after Ellis Harrison’s effort in the first minute was ruled out for offside – indeed, the hosts were frustrated by the linesman’s flag multiple times throughout the night as we defended dutifully while looking threatening every time we pushed forward.
We broke the deadlock on 10 minutes when Williams-Barnett collected the ball in midfield, he spotted Young off his line but instead of attempting his trademark effort from distance, picked the right pass to Thompson marauding down the left and he finished clinically from the angle. Four minutes later, a fine pass from the superb Reiss Russell-Denny sent Williams-Barnett clean through on goal and he sat Young down at the edge of his area before rolling the ball home. And it got even better within two minutes of that as Oli Irow played Akhamrich down the right and he finished well inside the near post on his right foot.
Our dominance forced Rovers to change shape, but their first goal was of our own making as a mistake at the back allowed Harrison to fire high into the net in first-half stoppage time, reducing our lead to 3-1. Nine minutes after the restart, the hosts pulled another one back when Cavegn got the better of right-back Rowswell and blasted past Archer, although Williams-Barnett almost replied with a dazzling individual moment, sitting a defender down and producing an audacious 360-degree turn to beat advancing keeper Young, only to fire wide as he steadied himself again.
Thompson took matters into his own hands to restore our two-goal cushion on 58 minutes, though, cutting inside from the left and producing a fine finish into the far top corner from a tight angle, right in front of the away end. But Archer’s dismissal after rushing out of his area to challenge the onrushing Howley seven minutes later changed the course of the tie, Hutchinson curling the resulting free-kick home to bring it back to 4-3.
Williams-Barnett tried a lob from distance but saw his effort drift wide, but Rovers had their tails up and after Dewsbury fired over, Cavegn saw off the retreating Jun’ai Byfield before firing home to level the scores with 17 minutes remaining. You’d have fancied Bristol Rovers to win at that stage but Cavegn – twice – and Dewsbury squandered opportunities as our 10 men gave everything to make it to the final whistle and secure a point.
Then came the shootout, with Russell-Denny and Howley firing over the bar as both sides scored three of their first four. Maguire later saved Dewsbury’s kick brilliantly down to his right to give us a chance to win it, but Logan’s attempt was kept out by the foot of Young, who then superbly saved Rowswell’s fierce effort after Taylor Moore had scored to give his side the extra point on offer.