Hazeem Bakre equalises for the Young Terriers in EFL Youth Alliance Cup

- Huddersfield Town Under-19s 1-1 Lincoln City
- Hazeem Bakre equalises for the youngsters
- Young side played full 90 minutes unchanged

Huddersfield Town’s Under-19s drew 1-1 against Lincoln City in the EFL Youth Alliance Cup on Wednesday 7 December.

With a few of our young lads suffering with injuries, our under-19s played a full 90 minutes unchanged against Lincoln City at Millers Oils High Performance Complex.

In an end-to-end game, both sides saw their fair share of chances in both the first and second half, but it was two late goals that secured the point for both sides.

Our Young Terriers started the game by pressing high and tested the Lincoln City defence as Ajay Weston sent a lovely cross into the box, but Isaac Allan reacted well and punched the ball to safety for the Imps.

Dylan Helliwell made a great tackle by the Town corner flag and prevented Gbolohan Okewoye from advancing into the box after he drove the ball down the left side of the pitch.

Town’s first chance of the game came from a corner; Helliwell took the set piece and sent a nice low cross into the box and found the head of Archie Sheppard at the front post, but this was just headed wide of the goal.

After this, it was the Imps’ turn to go on the attack after Harry Dale dribbled the ball through the Town midfield and fancied his chances at scoring from 25 yards out, but this attempt went high and over the crossbar.

Julian Donnery tried to send a low cross to Okewoye in the box shortly after, but this was read well and intercepted by centre-back Freddie Fletcher.

Still on the attack, Lincoln’s Jersey Lopez sent a through ball that was aimed towards Okewoye but our captain Fope Deru managed to get a touch on the ball and knocked it out for a corner. From the set piece, the ball hit the post and despite the protests from the Town side that the ball went out of play, the game played on, and the ball was cleared out of the dangerous area.

Our youngsters had two great chances to take the lead before the half time whistle as Isaac Acquah carried the ball into the box and went one-on-one with Allan; his shot was fired straight at the ‘keeper, who had come off his line t make the save. The second chance for the Terriers came three minutes after, again from Acquah as his strike from the edge of the box went just high and over the bar.

Just before half-time Lincoln City had one final chance as Russell Berko was sent the ball on the right side of the box and took his shot, but this ricocheted off the post; Dan Organ ran for the rebound, but his shot went high and over the bar.

The Terriers came out in the second half unchanged and started bright, having a shot within the first five minutes as Bakre had a shot that was heading towards the bottom right corner, but Allan dove to make the save.

With the deadlock still not broken, Lincoln City were determined to take the lead with Okewoye drove the ball towards the Town box, but our defence put the pressure on and closed in on the number 10 and his shot went wide of Sam Taylor’s net.

Another chance for Lincoln was dealt with by Town when an initial shot was saved by Taylor, but Berko fancied his chances from the rebound just inside the box and hit the crossbar; the bouncing ball was eventually cleared by Town and put back into open play.

Lincoln City scored their goal in the 79th minute after their second half substitute Bailey Adamson received the ball in the attacking half and drove forwards to the corner of the box, his shot was powerful and went high into the back of the net after it skimmed the fingertips of Taylor’s stretched hand.

However, this scoreline didn’t stay the same as Town found their equaliser four minutes later after Sheppard sent a through ball to Omari Mrisho and he carried it past the Lincoln defence and crossed it to Bakre who fired it straight over the ‘keeper and into the back of the net.

The last action of the game, in the 90th minute, Town had the chance to take the lead when they were awarded a free kick just outside the box following a foul on Tyree Sanusi. Helliwell stepped up to take the set piece and sent another lovely cross into the box, which fell just in front of Sheppard – but he poked the shot just wide of the net and Town came away from the game with a point against Lincoln City.

Town’s Team (4-2-3-1)
Sam Taylor; Omari Mrisho, Freddie Fletcher, Archie Sheppard, Ajay Weston; Temi Okuwa, Dylan Helliwell; Fope Deru (C), Isaac Acquah, Tyree Sanusi; Hazeem Bakre

Unused Sub
Francis Hurl

Goal Scorer
Hazeem Bakre (83')