AcademyU18s match report: Liverpool beaten away at Newcastle United

The Reds opened the scoring at Whitley Park after just five minutes of the contest via Kareem Ahmed.

They held that advantage at the half-time interval, but three goals in the second half from the hosts consigned them to defeat.

Michael Mills initially levelled for the Magpies, before Kacey Wooster's double - the second of which came from the penalty spot - secured the home side the points.

Reflecting on the game, U18s boss Marc Bridge-Wilkinson told Liverpoolfc.com post-match: "We're disappointed to lose. I thought we played really well in spells although we still found a way to concede three goals in the second half, which is hard to take.

"There's lots of positives from the game but we need to start finding a way to make ourselves harder to score against and then with that take our chances in the opposition box.

"We just have to be harder to beat. It's a bit of a tricky spell at the moment. We're doing everything we can to learn the lessons required.

"There were a few U16s with us today and I thought the younger ones did really well. Hopefully the older ones in the team can help them and we can give them a platform moving forward."

Team

Hall, Lonmeni, Airoboma, Owen, Williams, Ayman, Upton, Bradshaw (Yeguo, 88), Martin (Onanuga, 73), Ahmed (O'Connor, 79), Sonni-Lambie.

Unused subs: Evers, Bernard.

Goal: Ahmed (5).

Next up

The Reds next return to action on Saturday March 1 at the Academy when they host Leeds United in an U18 Premier League North meeting.

Kick-off in Kirkby is at 12pm GMT and the game will be shown live on LFCTV GO.