Five star performance earns victory for the Young Terriers
- Two wins out of three for the Young Terriers in the Clarets Cup
- Ben Midgley hat-trick followed up by goals from a triallist and Brahima Diarra secure the points
- Coach Jon Worthington praising of his side’s performance
- Ben Midgley hat-trick followed up by goals from a triallist and Brahima Diarra secure the points
- Coach Jon Worthington praising of his side’s performance
Huddersfield Town’s Under-17s put on a fine display and ran out 5-3 winners against Blackburn Rovers in the Clarets Cup this afternoon.
The hosts controlled the run of play throughout, and took the points thanks to a first half Ben Midgley hat-trick, followed by goals from a triallist and Brahima Diarra.
Immediately on the front foot, Town looked to punish their opponents and did just that when Midgley latched onto a looping through ball from Luke Daley and dinked over the keeper with 12 minutes played.
It didn’t stop there either, as two minutes later the triallist won a penalty for the Terriers, which Midgley dispatched to double his side’s lead.
Midgley was once again called upon on the half-hour mark, as the triallist was again brought down in the area, allowing the captain to complete his hat-trick.
The triallist then got in on the act himself, blazing down the left-wing and tucking the ball past the keeper in style.
Town were rampant as the first half drew to a close, but not before the away side pulled one back directly from a free kick.
The pace of the game slowed in the second half, although that didn’t stop the Terriers from adding a fifth to the scoresheet.
After neat work down the right-wing, Diarra picked the ball up on the edge of the box, turned past the last defender and slotted into the bottom corner.
It was game, set and match from that point onwards, although after Josh Okpolokpo went off injured Huddersfield were reduced to three defenders for the last few minutes, and Rovers capitalised with two late goals to wrap the game up.
This result puts the Under-17s in good stead for the remainder of the Clarets Cup group stages, and coach ‘Worthy’ was very pleased with the way his side applied themselves.
“I thought it was an excellent result and performance – 5-3 probably flatters them towards the end but throughout we were ruthless,” he said.
“We pressed with intent and won the ball in good areas, there were some good transitions and unlike Friday we were clinical.
“The lads will be pleased and the goal scorers will take a lot of heart from that so it benefits the whole team - I think the nicest thing was to get that kind of result and performance.”
The Under-17s face off against Sheffield Wednesday in the same competition next Tuesday, however before then the Young Terriers will welcome Notts County to PPG Canalside on Saturday in the Youth Alliance League, and Worthy will be hoping his side can build on this result.
“We’ll go in having had a good game and we’ll try to do the same against a tough opponent and continue where we left off today here”, he said.
Town’s team (4-3-3)
Michael Roxburgh; Luke Daley,; Loick Ayina; Josh Okpolokpo (Gulutte Zunda, 85’); Taylor Annakin; Luke Billam; Ben Midgley (c) (Robson Shipley, 56’); Myles Bright (Darnel Baxter-Alleyne, 68’); Gulutte Zunda (Andre Edionhon, 77’); Brahima Diarra; Triallist
