Young Terriers side second best up in Scotland
- Huddersfield Town Under-19s defeated by Hibernian
- Young Terriers will learn from the loss to Hibs
- Jaheim Headley the scorer for Danny Schofield’s side
Huddersfield Town’s Under-19 side will be able to learn lots from a heavy defeat to a more experienced Hibernian side in Tuesday afternoon’s friendly game up in Scotland.
Coach Danny Schofield led a talented, but inexperienced, Town side to the game north of the border, where Hibs showed a real clinical edge to win the game 7-1.
In fact, this will be exactly the type of test that Schofield wants for his young side. Hibernian’s side boasted the likes of former Liverpool goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, Swedish international Melker Hallberg, club captain David Gray and centre back Darren McGregor, who has played over 150 games for the First Team.
On the day they had too much, but the lessons learned by the likes of 16-year-old centre back Loick Ayina and 17-year-old Luke Daley in defence will stand them in good stead for the future.
It was 20-year-old forward Jamie Gullan who took the headlines, impressively netting five of the home side’s seven goals. He’s scored 11 in 18 Scottish League One games on loan at Raith Rovers during the first half of the season, earning a recall and a place in Hibernian’s squad recently.
He netted all four first-half goals for the hosts to give them a commanding lead in a one-sided 45 minutes, with errors in possession from Town punished by the Edinburgh side.
Had it not been for Town’s Australian goalkeeper Jacob Chapman, it could have been more; he made several excellent saves in the first half.
Town’s best spell came at the start of the second half, with the versatile Jaheim Headley (pictured above) scoring to reduce the arrears to 4-1 at one stage. The second-year scholar, who has just returned from a loan spell at Hyde United, grabbed his goal just before the hour mark, slotting past Hungarian international Bogdan after good work from captain Scott High and substitute Brahima Diarra.
Hibs turned the screw again to finish with seven goals, with Gullan adding a fifth alongside strikes from Yrik Galantes and Steven Bradley. However, as is always the case from the developmental nature of Academy football, there were interesting takeaways from the game for Schofield and his staff.
Town’s team (4-3-3)
Jacob Chapman; Luke Daley (Patrick Jones, 67’), Nassim Kherbouche (Mustapha Olagunju, 58’), Loick Ayina, Ilounga Pata; Josh Austerfield, Scott High (c), Tim Akinola; Jaheim Headley, Kieran Phillips (Brahima Diarra, 46’), Will McCamley
Unused substitute
Luke Mewitt
Scorer
Jaheim Headley (59’)
Booking
Loick Ayina (27’)
