Alfie White and Farhaan Ali Wahid grabbed the goals as Fulham’s under 18s beat West Bromwich Albion this afternoon to extend their unbeaten run to five matches.
The Whites made a strong start in the morning sunshine with Bashil Lubega denied by a brilliant block from Baggies defender Rhys Morris. Lubega went close from the ensuing corner when the lively striker headed wide from inside the six yard box having got on the end of a lovely delivery from Macaulay Zepa.
Ali Melloul’s youngsters took the lad through a stunning strike from midfielder White. He strode onto a smart pass from Fabien Simons, burst into space through the middle of the pitch and cut onto his right foot and curled a fabulous finish into the bottom corner of the net.
Albion almost mustered an equaliser shortly afterwards with a flowing move down the left eventually creating space for Divine Onyemachi. The winger took aim from 25 yards out but his effort flew over Marco Underwood’s crossbar. An open game saw Fulham have the next clear opportunity when Ali Wahid smacked an effort against the bar after cutting in on his right foot having collected a clever switch of play from the threatening Zepa.
The electric Ali Wahid doubled Fulham’s advantage right four minutes before the break when he strode away from the visiting defence after seizing on a poor ball out from the back and confidently finished past the helpless Louis Brady in the Albion goal. The Whites could easily have extended their lead early in the second half after some lovely passing triangles between White, Zepa and Ali Wahid created space for Aidan Evans, but the attacking midfielder snatched at his shot and could only ruffle the side netting.
The Baggies halved the deficit just after the hour mark when substitute Adam Okorodudu soared highest into the Fulham penalty area only seconds after coming on to head home a corner from Alfie Maughan. Matty Crowther almost came up with an equaliser when the holding midfielder’s rasping effort from the edge of the box was pushed away by an alert Underwood. The visitors kept pushing until the final whistle but assured defending from the composed Logan Cooke ensured that the young Whites held firm to register another hard-fought victory.
FULHAM UNDER 18s (4-2-3-1): Underwood; Simons, Picotto, Cooke, Nsasi; Quashie, White; Zepa (Platel 90+4), Ali Wahid, Evans (Wingate 72); Lubega. Subs (not used): Kaiser, Hall, Khan.
BOOKED: Cooke, Platel.
GOALS: White (17), Ali Wahid (41).
WEST BROMWICH ALBION UNDER 18s (4-2-3-1): Brady; Maughan, Letlat (Sears 88), Dupont, Morrish; Crowther, Blackshields (McNeil 90); Beedie (Okorodudu 61), Onyemachi, Parmar; Chimeziri. Subs (not used): Abudu, Wilkes.
BOOKED: Blackshields, Crowther.
GOAL: Okorodudu (61).
REFEREE: Maros Valko.
