Match reportJayden Danns double secures FA Youth Cup win at Fleetwood
Danns was in the right place to strike in the closing moments of each half on Tuesday night, sandwiching an equaliser for the hosts from Hermann Daha in the second period.
The Reds therefore move forward to the competition’s fourth round and a home tie against fellow Premier League side Arsenal at a date to be confirmed.
The home club made the brighter start amid tricky conditions at Highbury Stadium, where a swirling wind was adding to the challenge.
And more than half an hour had elapsed before there was a genuine opportunity for either team, it coming to Fleetwood with 34 on the clock.
Daha’s pass through the right channel released Mikey Lane in space inside the Liverpool area but he powered his finish over the goal.
Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s Reds responded almost instantly with their own best chance to date. A promising Lewis Koumas run down the left was followed by a cutback to Danns, who spun and thrashed a strike that clattered the crossbar and stayed out.
Trey Nyoni was also off target from a decent position before the visitors found a breakthrough right on the stroke of half-time.
From a left-side corner kick, Danns won the initial header and when the ball ran loose he reacted quickest to drive an effort in from close range.
The Reds might have grabbed a second before the interval, too, with Trent Kone-Doherty pulling a shot just wide after his dribble opened up the freedom to try his luck.
Fleetwood were assertive after the restart and the hosts got themselves back on level terms early in the second half.
They turned over possession in the Liverpool half and fed Lane, whose strike on the angle was pushed away by goalkeeper Kornel Misciur – but Daha was on hand to convert the rebound for 1-1.
Liverpool steadily settled back into control of the ball and they, and Danns, were denied by the woodwork for a second time on the night in the final 10 minutes, the forward firing against the bar again.
As full-time – and extra-time – loomed, Fleetwood squandered a great chance to win it, Theo Butterworth unable to net having been picked out at the far post from a set-piece.
And the visitors capitalised fully in stoppage time. Koumas scampered away via the left wing and his low cross was sent goalwards by Kone-Doherty, the ball then spinning to the feet of Danns and he did the rest from yards out to send his team into round four.
“It was a hard game, a tough game, like we expected,” U18s boss Bridge-Wilkinson told Liverpoolfc.com post-match.
“Fleetwood gave us a really tough test, they were obviously really competitive. I thought they played quite well with the ball as well and gave us a lot of problems in the game.
“I don’t think we reached the level that we know we’re capable of, which is disappointing. But obviously we’re pleased to get through to the next round.
“The disappointment from my side is I know we can play better, I know our performance can be better. I know individually we can make better decisions and we can tidy our technical moments up so that we take control of the game.
“It wasn’t to be today and like I said, we’re just really pleased that we’ve managed to find a way through it even though we’ve not played particularly well.
“Two good goals, to be honest – two centre-forward goals. He could have had maybe another one or two, he got into the right areas and on a different day maybe he does.
“Maybe if we take a chance a little bit sooner than we did, maybe the game changes. But overall I think we’ve got to be pleased obviously to be into the next round, but we do know we’ve got a lot more work to do.”
TEAM
Liverpool U18s: Misciur, Davidson, Pitt, Lucky, Nallo, Laffey, Kone-Doherty, Morrison, Danns, Nyoni (B. Trueman, 68), Koumas.
Unused subs: Morana, Furnell-Gill, Gyimah, Pennington, K. Kelly, Figueroa.
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