Young Terriers win second Youth Alliance Cup game
- Huddersfield Town’s Under-18s focused on performance against Oldham
- Young Terriers continue their impressive streak in the Youth Alliance Cup
- Jon Worthington very pleased with ‘dominant’ performance
Huddersfield Town’s Under-18s made it two wins from two in the Youth Alliance Cup, as the Young Terriers beat Oldham Athletic 3-1 on Saturday.
As in all Youth Alliance Cup games, the Young Terriers’ focus changed from development to performance as Jon Worthington’s side went into the game with a result-driven mindset.
Both centre backs were on the scoresheet in the first half; Mustapha Olagunju headed the Under-18s in front before Loick Ayina curled a strike into the top right corner.
Striker Robson Shipley put the game to bed with Town’s third and his second in the competition, and despite conceding late on Worthy’s side didn’t let their standards drop to cap off an impressive performance.
“The objective for us in any of the cup games is to go and win, so obviously I’m happy we achieved that,” said Worthy.
“To be fair to Oldham they put us under a little bit of early pressure, but afterwards I thought we were a real threat and dominated, so it was only a matter of time before we got in and got on the end of a few chances.
“It’s always nice to show hunger to head the ball in the box; that’s something that Mustapha has been showing in training, and it’s good to see both centre halves attack the ball like they did and get a reward for it.
“The next goal was really important, and we knew if we could get that goal and be really positive that it would make life difficult for Oldham. We had a couple of great early chances and obviously Robson managed to take one of those.
“That allowed us then to be comfortable and manage the game afterwards.
“They pressed us again towards the end, got a goal back but I thought we kept our composure really well when there were a few challenges flying in. That was a good learning point for us - we stuck to our principles well.”
The Under-17s have completed their second block of training since joining Huddersfield Town’s Academy and will now move onto their next section before hosting Chesterfield in the Youth Alliance League next Saturday.
“We move onto the next phase, which is a little more tactical,” said Worthy. “We’ll be working on playing out of possession, areas of the pitch and when to press as a team.
“This week we’ll start work on fight zones, ready for the next test on Saturday.”
Town’s U18s vs Oldham Athletic (4-3-3)
Jacob Chapman; Luke Daley (Josh Okpolokpo, 90+3’), Mustapha Olagunju, Loick Ayina, Taylor Annakin; Josh Austerfield (c), Brahima Diarra, Ben Midgley; Sam Sharrock-Peplow, Robson Shipley, Gulutte Zunda (Myles Bright, 64’)
Unused substitutes
Michael Roxburgh; Ernaldo Krasniqi, Darnel Baxter-Alleyne
Final score
Huddersfield Town Under-18s 3-1 Oldham Athletic Under-18s
Scorers
Mustapha Olagunju 35’, Loick Ayina 42’, Robson Shipley 48’
