Callum Osmand continued his fine goalscoring season with a hat-trick as Fulham’s under 21s beat Hertha Berlin 5-3 in the Premier League International Cup last night to extend their winning streak to six games.

The Welsh youth international settled an eight-goal thriller with more examples of his devastating finishing as the young Whites came from behind to complete an emphatic victory with Lemar Gordon bagging a brace on a cold night at Motspur Park.

Hayden Mullins’ side did well to recover from the setback of conceding a poor opening goal early on and eventually their class told against a well-drilled and technically proficient German outfit. The hosts were punished for being too ambitious in their attempts to play around Hertha’s press with England under-19 international Samuel Amissah giving the ball away in a dangerous area. Oliver Rolke found space in the penalty area and, although Alex Borto saved his shot, Ensar Aksakal made no mistake from the rebound.

It took Fulham ten minutes to muster a serious attack with Gofford having a shot blocked after racing onto a bright ball from Oliver Gofford before another mistake from the jittery home defence saw Borto have to spread himself to deny attacking midfielder Julius Ben Gottschalk.

The hosts drew level just before the half hour with Osmand unlocking the Hertha defence with an intelligent pass to put Gordon in on goal and the winger kept his cool to beat goalkeeper Dennis Smarsch. Osmand grabbed his first goal of the evening seven minutes later when he got on the end of a cross from Gofford, turned his marker and smashed a finish between Smarsch and the goalkeeper’s near post.

The game ran away from the visitors before the break as Osmand took control of proceedings. He second followed barely a minute after the first, when Gordon did superbly to seize possession from a shell-shocked Hertha defence. The winger picked his moment to put Osmand in the clear and the striker rifled past the helpless Smarsch to make it 3-1.

Osmand went close to completing his hat-trick before the interval but Smarsh saved his powerful shot – only for Gordon to gleefully gobble up the rebound. Any hopes of a Hertha fightback were dashed within four minutes of the resumption when Gofford’s quick free-kick put Osmand in on goal once more and the Welshman rolled an assured finish inside the near post. The in-form forward’s evening ended early as he was substituted nine minutes later.

The game remained an open contest until the end and Hertha’s heads didn’t drop despite their overwhelming deficit. Aksakal was unfortunate not to score his second goal with seventeen minutes to play, when Borto did brilliantly to keep the winger’s venomous drive. But the Germans kept going and did reduce their arrears a minute later when substitute Maik Nelson Afri Akumu was rewarded for his persistence down the left flank as his cross found Luca Wollschläger, who fired home from close range.

Hertha made it 5-3 with nine minutes left when another substitute Jelani Ndi beat Borto from inside his six-yard box after excellent approach play from Danish centre forward Gustav Orsoe Christensen. Despite the German side’s late revival, this was another impressive victory for Fulham’s under 21s, who return to PL2 action on Friday night at Motspur Park when they host Derby County.

FULHAM UNDER 21s (4-2-3-1): Borto; Gofford (de Jesus 63), Esenga, Nsasi, Amissah (Park 45); Nwoko (Quashie 90+1), Donnell; Works, Gordon (Loupalo-Bi 58), Sekularac; Osmand (Olyott 58). Subs (not used): Underwood, Ali Wahid.

BOOKED: Esenga.

GOALS: Gordon (29, 45), Osmand (36, 38, 49).

HERTHA BERLIN UNDER 21s (4-3-3): Smarsch; Berner, Strasner, Matiebel (Greber 64), Morgenstern; Lum (Ndi 45), Ajvazi (Eichorn 45), Gottschalk (Akumu 64); Rolke (Wollschläger 64), Aksakal, Christensen. Subs (not used): Mohwinkel.

GOALS: Aksakal (7), Wollschläger (74), Ndi (81).

REFEREE: Joe Moss.