A fine first-half strike from Ollie Gofford was enough for Fulham under-18s to secure an impressive victory over Arsenal at Motspur Park this morning.
The midfielder found the bottom left corner of the net with a precise finish just before the half hour mark as Ali Melloul’s side consolidated their hold on fourth place in the U18 Premier League. A fine passing move was started and finished by the skipper, who drove home an intelligent ball from Brad de Jesus, to open the scoring. The Whites could have gone ahead earlier in the contest but Gofford’s long-range strike was superbly tipped onto the post by debutant Arsenal goalkeeper Jack Porter.
The Gunners, coached by Jack Wilshere, enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the first period, but were limited to fairly few sights of goal with Marco Underwood denying Ismeal Kabia after the left winger had dribbled past two defenders. Underwood got fingertips to a rising drive from full back Cam’ron Ismail after the interval, but Fulham also threatened with Farhaan Ali-Wahid rattling the crossbar and Seth Ridgeon also going close. Arsenal put Fulham under pressure late on as Osman Kamara and Chido Obi-Martin missed chances in the closing stages.
Fulham, with Chibby Nwoko excelling in an unfamiliar left back role, defended diligently to claim both a clean sheet and three more precious points to remain above the Gunners in the table.
FULHAM UNDER 18s (4-2-3-1): Underwood; de Jesus, Nwoko, Tabares, Nsasi; Quashie, Gofford; Olyott, Ali Wahid (White 90+3), Ridgeon (Wingate 84); Loupalo-Bi. Subs (not used): Varney, Schutter.
BOOKED: Quashie.
GOAL: Gofford (29).
ARSENAL UNDER 18s (4-1-2-3): Porter; Julienne, Ismail, Kacurri (Ibrahim 76), Sweet; Rosiak; Copley (Casey 64), Dudziak; Kamara, Kabia (Benjamin 45), Obi. Subs (not used): Ranson, Akolbiere.
BOOKED: Kabia, Rosiak, Sweet.
REFEREE: Matthew Ball.
