Crystal Palace U21’s Vs Brighton U21’s 22/23 PL2

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all well.

On Monday 8th of August Crystal Palace under 21’s hosted Brighton u21’s in their first fixture of the 21/22 PL2 season. This year the Premier League has changed PL2’s age band to under 21’s as opposed to under 23’s so we will be seeing more younger talent this season. As it was the first game the fixture was played at Selhurst Park in front of a small crowd, I’m hoping more academy games are played here this season as it gives fans a chance to watch them at a much lower price than the Premier League. If you’ve read my posts from before the summer or am a regular watcher of the team you would know the under 21’s finished 5th in the league last season, Brighton finished 10th. Over the summer multiple players were released on loan including Tayo Adaramola, Reece Hannan and Scott Banks, this meant the team would need a reshuffle before the start of the season, a few of the under 18’s turned 19 in the recent months, so they too were also in contention. The team that was named was quite surprising with only four “academy” players named in the line-up with the rest being made up of first team players these included - Chris Richards, Will Hughes, 18 year old summer signing Malcom Ebiowei, Jairo Riedewald, Luke Plange, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (last season’s PL2 joint top goal scorer) and Jean-Philippe Mateta; this decision would’ve been made on the basis of the lack of minutes for them players but I’m not sure it’s entirely fair on the academy players. Patrick Vieira was in attendance so would be keeping a close eye on his players - I’m sure he left with a smile on his face!

The game started at 7pm but we arrived early to try and get the new home shirt, when we arrived the store was closed, and all the shirts are now sold out, so we are still without the new shirts :). My friend Tom also travelled to the game, so it was nice to briefly see him before the game. When the match finally started although there wasn’t a huge crowd there was still great noise showing support for the boys!

Brighton started the stronger side in the opening stages, they played the ball in behind, the shot was blocked by the leg of Goodman, one of the four academy players starting. Owen Goodman had a decent preseason playing with the first teams in England starting 2 of the matches, he will be in competition for the keeper position with Joe Whitworth this season. A Brighton Free kick on edge of the box forced another good save by Goodman. When we finally got some possession of the ball Mateta played the ball around the keeper, he went past the ball not taking it with him and when he eventually took the shot into an open net he put it wide! Brighton were beating us to everything putting us under a lot of pressure, I feel this could be a consequence of playing a mixed team who aren’t used to playing together, whereas Brighton found their rhythm quickly as they would train and play week in week out with each other. Our first attempt on goal came in the 8th minute and we got the ball in the back of the net; Eboiwei and Rak-Sakyi linked up brilliantly down the right side, Jes drove down to the biline before whipping the ball into Mateta on the far side of the goal to finish into the back of the net, it was as a bit of a soft shot and he was unmarked but we take them all! Although he scored the goal Mateta didn’t have the best start to the game, none of the Premier League players were up to their usual standards. A Seagulls corner that was not closed down well enough allowed Brighton’s Ferguson to take the ball down and work enough room to get a shot off sending the ball into the far netting using a deflection off O’Brian on the way through, in the space of five minutes the score was back level. Brighton still had a lot of the ball and created a lot of chances but thankfully for us they weren’t clinical, their new summer singing Julio Enciso looked very sharp and was causing us issues throughout the whole game. On the counterattack Plange was played in behind by Eboiwei taking the ball perfectly in his stride and sitting the defender down, he played in Rak-Sakyi who was approaching the edge of the box and he finally played in Mateta who’s shot hit the crossbar, he was then called from offside but some lovely football on show. Luke Plange was involved in lots of our attacks down the left; on one instance he was keeping hold of the ball a bit too long trying to get the shot off, Boateng was screaming for the ball on the edge of the box when he finally got the ball he had a great first time shot forcing a good save from the keeper down to his right. Mateta had the chance to get his second of the game, he went for a dink over the keeper, which was unsuccessful, Plange was ready for the follow up, but the ball went just to wide leaving his shot to hit the post. Brighton took over and dominated the ball just before the halfway mark, Palace just made a lot of unnecessary mistakes allowing Brighton to have countless chances on goal. We really struggled to get Malcom involved in the game with the midfield not able to connect the play effectively enough. A poor throw in from Brighton fell nearly to Rak-Sakyi in the middle of the pitch, but he wasn’t able to capitalise on the mistake, Brighton made their way up the pitch with their attack ending in a fly kick shot forcing a great save from Goodman to top it over the bar. A great piece of play came in the 38th minute with Mateta playing Plange down the wing giving him lots of space to run into, Rak-Sakyi and Eboiwei were queuing up at the back post ready for the ball, Plange played a great ball across the box finding Malcom Eboiwei, he took a touch to come inside and got his shot off burying it into the far corner of the goal for his first goal in Palace colours! Two Brighton defenders backtracked into their goal as their keeper went out to close the angle, but the ball went straight through the two of them. In the space of two minutes our lead was extended, the attack began with Chris Richards stepping up and intercepting the ball in our attacking half, Plange played the connecting ball into Mateta who took a touch to come inside and had a shot from just outside the box burying the ball into the near corner for the second time this match! The half ended with us maintaining possession and trying to get our 4th of the game.

We went into the break 3-1 up and after a poor start we were definitely the happier of the teams with Brighton probably feeling hard done by with the number of attacks they had.

Crystal Palace started the second half brightly, a cross by Plange found the head of Rak-Sakyi who forced a save from the keeper. Brighton had a dangerous phase of play where none of the Palace players closed the opposing players down making it too easy of them. When Brighton did have the ball they did played some nice one touch football in fairness to them. During one of their attacks their new signing Enciso was fouled on the edge of the box, he went down extremely theatrically like he had been shot when he was barely touched, and he went on to be booed whenever on the ball from then on. Malcom Eboiwei had some more luck down the right controlling the ball very silkily, one of his crosses found the foot of Riedewald who connected with the ball sweetly and had to force a Brighton player to block it on route to goal. The first substitution for us saw Noah Watson come on to replace Chris Richards, I thought he had a good debut making some important any interceptions and playing a big part in our 3rd goal. The tackles started to fly in with it being a rivalry, Brighton was awarded 2 yellow cards in the space of 2 minutes think we knew who the more frustrated team were. In the later stages of the game the showboating started to shine through with Eboiwei and Rak-Sakyi looking like they were enjoying themselves out there. Brighton’s heads didn’t drop at any moment of the game as they hunted for a way back into the game, on the 71st minute Brighton’s number 2 drove towards the biline before finding Moran in the centre, his quick feet helped him work the ball around our defenders before finishing it into the back of the net to make it 3-2 finding their way back into the game. This was met by an immediate substitution with David Boateng who had went down injured off the ball, being replaced by Killian Phillips. As the time remaining went down it looked more and more likely Brighton would get the equaliser. All of Brighton’s attacks came down the left and we obviously didn’t identify this continuing to give them too much time and space. The majority of the play was in the Brighton half, and we struggled to get any of our attacking players on the ball. A double substitution saw Ebowoi and Mateta leave the field in replace of John-Kymari Gordon and Rob street, this didn’t really make sense with most of the threat for us being created by Eboiwei. Some good work from John-Kymari Gordon to keep the ball in the middle of the pitch before finding a pass to Plange, he made a direct run down the wing but kept hold of the ball a little long allowing his eventual shot to be blocked. In the final 5 minutes it was very intense as Brighton came even closer to getting their equaliser, in one phase of play there must have been about 4 shots coming from all angles including one that hit the far post and one that forced a great save from the keeper. Although there were some panic made decisions we did manage to hold on and take all 3 points in their first game!

3-2 win over your rivals and a very action packed game, what a way to start the season. I was very impressed with Luke Plange (my MOTM) and Malcom Eboiwei (my stepdads MOTM), they looked really dangerous throughout and it will be very exciting to see them in the first team in the upcoming months. I thought Owen Goodman also had a great game in goal making some well-timed saves to keep Palace in the game, and finally Chris Richards had a good debut looking confidently solid at the back! I’m definitely hoping to go to more under 21 games this season as I’m sure they can have a very successful run, hopefully some of the younger boys get their chance once the first team players get more minutes.

The next game I’m going to is the under 18’s vs West Ham on Saturday at the Academy, I’m not sure if there will be a post on that as I am shadowing the academy media person so may not have time. After that, my next game will be Aston Villa at home in a few weeks, so look out for that post.

Thank you for reading,

Ellie Xx