Mansfield Town U18s 1 – 4 Under 18 – Match Report
Our Under-18s secured their place in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup with an impressive 4-1 victory at Mansfield Town.
Goals from Callan Hamill, Maalik Hashi, Louis Zecevic-John and Brando Bailey-Joseph capped a dominant display and ensured comfortable progress in the competition.
What happened
We couldn’t have asked for a better start and took an early lead when Hamill finished off a well-worked corner, cleverly sending the ball to the near post.
Our advantage was doubled soon after when Zecevic-John was brought down in the penalty area. Hashi stood up and calmly sent the resulting kick into the bottom left corner, leaving the goalkeeper no chance.
Mansfield enjoyed spells of possession and threatened in a few promising areas, but Jack Porter was rarely troubled as our defense remained firm.
We increased our lead on the hour mark after the restart. A deflected clearance fell to Zecevic-John inside the box and he reacted quickest, finishing decisively to put us firmly in control.
The hosts scored a goal when Mace Oldershaw converted from close range, but any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished. Almost immediately we passed the ball perfectly to Bailey-Joseph, who made no mistake from inside the box to restore our three-goal lead and seal a convincing victory.
What it means
This victory allows us to progress to the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup, where we will face Manchester City away.
What’s next
This match marked our final match of 2025. We return to Under-18 Premier League action in the new year, hosting Leicester City on Saturday 10th January.
Kick-off at the Sobha Realty Training Center is scheduled for 11:30am (UK time).
LINES
Town of Mansfield: Rive, Cheetham, Stubbs, Oldershaw, Hassall, Mott, Chambers-Morgan, Grimes, Spink, Walters, Murray
Unused subs: Woolf, Peets, Hewitt, Cappin, Grant, Nicholls, Scott
Arsenal XI: Porter, Hamill, Chapman, Onyekachukwu, Ogunnaike, Murisa, Julienne, Hashi (Marciniak, 71), Bailey-Joseph (Phillips, 90), Zecevic-John (Thompson, 65), O’Neill
Unused subs: Ranson, Pedro, Owusu-Gyasi, Stachow
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