AcademyU18s match report: Liverpool earn victory over Stoke City in Kirkby

Goals from Kareem Ahmed and Josh Sonni-Lambie in the second half settled the affair in favour of Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's side.

The opening exchanges passed without major incident in Kirkby, with Reds defender Lucas Pitt called into the first real action, clearing a dangerous Stoke ball delivered low into the area shortly before the 10-minute mark.

Pitt was then involved at the other end a short while later, first forcing a corner, before the Potters defended his inviting cross from the right as the teams attempted to assert themselves on the contest.

Liverpool, though, went closest of the two, with Trey Nyoni's pass splitting open the visiting defence as he found the run of Rio Ngumoha in the box, though Sonni-Lambie could only divert his eventual effort onto the post.

The two sides then spurned good openings apiece as both Connor Day and Ahmed saw shots fly past the woodwork from inside the box.

Ngumoha again showed tricky footwork in the area, with his run resulting in a deflected cross to move Stoke goalkeeper Noah Cooper into his first save of the afternoon.

As the game moved towards half-time, Liverpool began to dominant proceedings and chances.

The Reds opened up Stoke with some clever play, which resulted in Joe Bradshaw forcing a strong save from Cooper down to his left, while Pitt pounced on the resulting rebound though was unable to keep his effort down and on target.

Cooper again produced a stunning stop to his right this time to keep the scores level at the interval, with Ahmed shooting through a number of bodies following a swift short-corner routine.

Three minutes into the second half, however, Liverpool had the advantage they earlier deserved.

It was Ahmed on the scoresheet as he darted into the near post and prodded home following good combination play down the left flank, which saw Ngumoha eventually pick out his teammate to net in the six-yard box.

Stoke's response was largely being kept to shots from distance, with Liverpool dominating possession as the contest continued.

The visitors, though, almost caught out the Reds with Day pouncing on a loose pass across the defence, but he was unable to curl his resulting shot on target from the edge of the area.

Bradshaw again tested the reactions of Cooper in the Stoke net with a hooked effort inside the box, Liverpool's attack again coming down the left side to open up the Potters.

The away team then gave a timely reminder of their threat, striking the woodwork from a corner ball as defender Pijus Otegbayo leaped highest to flick a header onto the base of Bailey Hall's post.

And Liverpool responded by adding a second goal just minutes later to give themselves an important cushion.

Bradshaw sprinted onto a ball in behind and crossed low for Sonni-Lambie, who made no mistake by sweeping home the delivery into the far corner of the net.

Ahmed and Bradshaw both then went close in the search for a third in the latter stages of the game, though Liverpool were unable to add to the scoreline as they held on for victory.

Team

Hall, Pitt, Ewing, Pinnington, Enahoro-Marcus, O'Connor (Lonmeni, 70), Bradshaw, Nyoni, Sonni-Lambie, Ahmed, Ngumoha.

Unused subs: Bernard, Evers, Furnell-Gill, Martin.

Next up

The young Reds will return to action following the upcoming international break, with their next fixture pencilled in for November 23.

Birmingham City will provide the opposition in the U18 Premier League Cup, with kick-off at Knighthead Academy set for 12pm GMT.