AcademyLiverpool 3-4 Hertha BSC: Premier League International Cup match report

Barry Lewtas’ charges began positively under the lights at the Kirkby Academy, with Kyle Kelly striking just wide of the Hertha goal after an opposition error early on.

Then, with 18 minutes on the clock, the Reds got in front, with Tommy Pilling supplying a low finish past Tim Goller after persistence forced his way into space in the area.

The visitors’ response was near-immediate, however. Ensar Aksakal guided a close-range header beyond Liverpool goalkeeper Bailey Hall – moving up from U18s duty – from a right-wing cross just five minutes later.

Wellity Lucky skewed a shot wide of the left post after a spot of pinball ensued from a corner kick sent back into the box by Trent Kone-Doherty.

But Hertha forward Aksakal completed a quickfire turnaround for his team eight minutes before the break, deftly sending an outside-of-the-boot effort across Hall when a corner was not cleared.

Ahead of the interval, Hall palmed away another strong Aksakal strike and Oakley Cannonier scuffed wide from a promising position, teed up by James Norris on the overlap.

The Reds’ hopes of producing a momentum swing of their own were stalled by the away side starting confidently in the second half, with Gustav Christensen prodding off target from a decent chance.

Hertha did net their third of the evening on 51 minutes, however. Dion Ajvazi was the scorer this time, nudging in the loose ball when a rebound fell his way.

Seconds later, Aksakal was a whisker away from sealing his hat-trick as he clattered the crossbar from the edge of the area, but the advantage was stretched two minutes shy of the hour.

Right-back Sebastian Weiland converted at the back post following a Hertha corner kick from the left flank that was flicked on to his path.

Lewtas deployed a raft of changes in the time remaining and two of his introductions from the bench reduced Liverpool’s deficit to one.

First, Kieran Morrison capitalised upon a mistake at the back by Hertha and the Northern Ireland youth international dispatched the ball into the bottom right corner.

A grandstand finish was set up three minutes from the end of normal time as Tom Hill struck for the Reds – he lashed in after Kone-Doherty nodded down Morrison’s deep cross – but it was not quite enough as the visitors saw it out.

Team

Hall, Davidson, Norris (Nallo, 72), Pinnington, Lucky, Laffey (Hill, 63), Figueroa (Ahmed, 77), Pilling, Cannonier (Morrison, 63), Kelly (Corness, 63), Kone-Doherty.

Unused sub: R. Trueman.

Reaction

U21s head coach Lewtas told Liverpoolfc.com: “For us, I was really disappointed with the goals we conceded and obviously I felt in the end we gifted them four goals.

“You always make it difficult for yourselves when you concede like we did, but credit to them, a high-pressing team with lots of energy, really physical and very tough to play against.

“We were our own worst kind of enemy tonight and the players know that and they were disappointed with that as well, but we stayed in the game and scored three goals and we also missed a lot of chances as well.

“So, in these last two games we have lost, that is certainly a part of our game that needs to improve and we certainly need to be more ruthless in the attacking box.

“We did chase and gave it a good go because when we got the third goal we were the team on the ascendancy and I’ll give the boys real credit for that, so there’s no lack of intent there.

“We now go again on Saturday when we host Wolves and the games are coming thick and fast, which is good, so it’s a good taste as to what’s next for these players.

“When you have a tough result as we did against Everton you are always keen to bounce back and we know there’s lots of parts of our game that is really good at the moment.

“If we were gifting goals and not creating anything then I would be really concerned, but we are creating really good goalscoring opportunities, but tonight was the first time I thought we conceded some really cheap goals, but we can easily fix that part.”

Next up

The U21s are back at the Academy on Saturday (November 2) for a Premier League 2 clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers that kicks off at 2pm GMT.