Captain High strikes late for Town U19s

- Huddersfield Town U19s draw at home to Rochdale
- Town trailed 0-2 before Aaron Rowe halved the deficit
- Midfielder Scott High fires home to level in the second half

Mark Hudson’s Under-19 side had to dig deep to earn a 2-2 draw after conceding two early goals at home to Rochdale.

The visitors were the better of the two sides in the first half and they found themselves two goals up after 21 minutes, with striker Fabio Tavares opening the scoring before turning provider for Florian Yonsian to add a second.

Town responded well and pulled a goal back shortly before the half-hour mark as attacking midfielder Aaron Rowe (pictured above) fired a stunning effort past Rochdale goalkeeper Magnus Norman from outside of the box.

The hosts were granted a good chance to equalise with less than quarter of an hour left to play when the referee gave Town an indirect free-kick, to which substitute Mason O’Malley teed up captain Scott High to rocket the ball into the back of the net.

Rochdale's young side arrived with a smattering of real experience among its ranks, with 40-year-old First Team Coach Brian Barry-Murphy lining up in defence and Callum Camps, the 22-year who has made over 150 appearances for the Club, in central midfield.

It was Town who had the first chance of the game after only two minutes when High unluckily saw his superb free-kick thunder back off the post.

The post was proving popular this afternoon as only minutes later, it was the turn of Rochdale to see an effort crash back off the woodwork; Callum Camps with the long-range effort.

Rochdale started to pile on the pressure and they opened the scoring in the tenth minute when the ball fell nicely to Tavares who proceeded to slot it past the Town goalkeeper, Luke Mewitt, having initially forced the custodian into a poor clearance with some high pressing.

Town responded well to conceding and the stretching Dom Tear found himself agonisingly close to levelling at the back post following superb play down the wing by Ben Jackson.

The miss from Tear proved costly as a matter of moments later the visitors doubled their advantage, this time Tavares squaring the ball for his strike partner Florian Yonsian who diverted it goalwards and past Mewitt.

GOAL!! Aaron Rowe with the strike to put #htafc back in the game!

1-2.

Game live on #HTTV https://t.co/jxC2KY8neC#YoungTerriers (PS) pic.twitter.com/9ZSdYBRehf

— HTAFC Academy (@htafcacademy) October 10, 2018

After finding the net with a rocketing effort, Rowe almost grabbed himself an assist shortly before the break as he played Tear through on goal; the winger firing his shot straight at Norman following good pressure from the defender.

The second-half was a very tight affair with Town striker Kit Elliott having a couple of half chances to grab an equaliser.

The first of those chances came with less than 20 minutes to play as the ball unexpectedly bounced through to Elliott who could only divert the ball directly at the goalkeeper.

Only minutes later, Elliott had fired another effort towards goal from outside of the box; however this time he saw his shot ricochet of a Rochdale defender.

With just over ten minutes left on the clock there was confusion in the Rochdale ranks as the goalkeeper picked up a pass from one of his own players, giving the referee no choice but to give Town an indirect free-kick.

With High not being able to shoot directly from the set-piece himself, the duty fell to O’Malley to set up the skipper; both executed their roles perfectly as the ball was placed perfectly past the Rochdale goalkeeper.

GOAL! #htafc level things up through Scott High, now 2-2 v Rochdale.

Game live on #HTTV https://t.co/jxC2KY8neC#YoungTerriers (PS) pic.twitter.com/fRHU0N88vV

— HTAFC Academy (@htafcacademy) October 10, 2018

It looked as though it was going to be a dream debut in the Under-19s for 16-year-old Kian Harratt, as only moments after coming off the bench, the ball fell to the young striker in the box but he failed to provide a proper connection with the ball and scuffed the shot.

Hudson's Under-19 side is back in action on Monday evening, travelling to Harrogate Town for a 7pm kick-off.

Town’s team (4-2-3-1)
Luke Mewitt; Harry Spratt (Mason O’Malley, 68’), Romoney Crichlow-Noble, Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Demeaco Duhaney (Tom Bell, 66’); Isaac Marriott, Scott High (c); Ben Jackson, Aaron Rowe (Sam Gibson, 74’), Dom Tear; Kit Elliott (Kian Harratt, 78’)

Unused sub
Gabriel Rosario