AcademyU18s match report: Liverpool net four in victory at Blackburn Rovers
There was little sign of what was to come when the young Reds raced into a 3-0 lead after the hour mark following first-half goals from Trey Nyoni and Wellity Lucky, plus a superb individual third from Jayden Danns in the second period.
Blackburn, though, launched a fightback, scoring twice in quick succession with just over 10 minutes left, to leave the visitors hanging on and needing to show character to get over the line.
Rovers hit the bar and had a goal ruled out for offside, before Kone-Doherty latched on to Afolami Onanuga’s breakaway pass to confirm the win.
The first goal of the U18 Premier League North fixture arrived on four minutes and two of Liverpool’s new arrivals were heavily involved.
Defender Amara Nallo, a recent recruit from West Ham United, played a lovely ball out of defence to Kone-Doherty and when he delivered a cross from the left, fellow new boy Nyoni was on hand to volley home with aplomb.
Rovers almost got back into it on 20 minutes, Kornel Misciur in the Reds’ goal saving well from Jackson Shorrocks, while Junior Nsangou rattled the crossbar with the rebound.
Instead, it was the visitors who extended their lead on 32 minutes, after Ranel Young was dragged back as he looked to race away.
Ben Trueman delivered the free-kick to the back post and Lucky was there to head home a second.
Centre-back Lucky was then required at the other end to make a great block to keep the lead intact, while Onanuga almost grabbed a third ahead of the break with a lovely strike that Nicolas Michalski did well to keep out.
The second half started in relatively calm fashion as Liverpool saw a penalty claim waved away on the hour mark after Danns was brought down in the box.
It wasn’t long before Danns took matters into his own hands and stretched the Liverpool advantage on 63 minutes.
The striker latched on to a loose ball on the left, beating two defenders to cut in and fire low past the goalkeeper for a superb individual effort.
Blackburn worked a couple of good chances before Matthew Litherland headed them back into the game following a cross from the right on 77 minutes.
Fewer than 60 seconds later they had their second, as Zack Stritch calmly stroked home past Misciur to leave the young Reds hanging on.
Lucas Houghton thought he’d levelled for Rovers with a header from a corner, though the assistant referee had his flag up with a Blackburn player standing in front of Misciur in an offside position.
Substitute Joseph Boggan then hit the bar as the home side attempted to complete the comeback, but it was Onanuga who escaped on the right deep into injury time to slide in Kone-Doherty, who made no mistake to seal victory.
TEAM
Liverpool U18s: Misciur, Pinnington, Kelly (Ahmed, 57), Lucky, Nallo, Trueman, Young (Pitt, 46), Onanuga, Danns, Nyoni (Gyimah, 84), Kone-Doherty.
Unused subs: Morana, Furnell-Gill.
NEXT UP
Liverpool U18s’ next fixture is scheduled for September 23 as they take on Everton in a Merseyside derby on home soil.
The game at the Academy is set for an 11am BST kick-off and will be shown live on LFCTV GO.