Northampton Town U18s 4 Brentford U18s 2 | OneFootball

Brentford Under-18s suffered their first loss of the EFL Youth Alliance Merit League 2 season, falling 4-2 to Northampton Town Under-18s.

Hitting the road for a second-straight week, the young Bees found goals through Emeka Peters and an own goal, however it wasn’t enough to earn three points at Moulton College.

Head coach Lydia Bedford made seven changes to the starting line-up from last weekend’s win over Newport County, keeper Reggie Rose, Konstantin Ivanov, Mikel Francis, Babu Ombok, Michael McSorley, Remy Bennison and Adam Poliakov each coming into the starting group.

The young Bees started in impressive fashion, Bennison beating multiple defenders with a great run down the left side and crossing it into the box, a Northampton defender putting it into the net for an own goal.

Brentford continued to dominate possession across the next 10 minutes as the rain continued to fall.

The home side’s best early chance came on 13 minutes, Charlie Carroll throwing a boot at a loose ball on the edge of the box that went right of the goal.

Bedford’s side continued to impress as the half wore on, their play from the back building some promising possessions without amounting to a second goal.

Brentford’s best chance to double the lead came on 24 minutes, Ivanov, Andre Grey and Poliakov combining down the left side to free the latter up, his cross finding Ollie Shield at the back post whose shot went wide.

Despite the young Bees being on top it was Northampton who found the next goal, Joziah Barnett’s powerful strike in a mess of players hitting the back of the net to make it 1-1 on 32 minutes.

As the break approached it was the home side who were enjoying some momentum, earning a penalty right on the stroke of half-time, which was taken and scored by Harry Guess to hand them a 2-1 lead going into the break.

The young Bees came out the better side to start the second half, dominating possession across the opening 10 minutes.

Kaya Halil, Josh Djoro and Peters were subbed on to provide some fresh legs, as was Oliver Evans for the home side. Evans wasted little time having an impact on the game, scoring within three minutes to make it 3-1 on 72 minutes.

The goal gave Northampton some momentum, Carroll firing a strong shot minutes later that was well saved by Rose. The ensuing corner found its way to Carroll outside the box who fired a powerful strike again, however Rose was up to the challenge.

Guess put the game out of reach for Brentford as the game entered its final 10 minutes, scoring his second goal to hand Northampton their fourth.

Peters helped the young Bees get some reward for effort on 84 minutes, his header from Francis’ cross giving Brentford a second goal as full-time approached to make it 4-2.

Northampton Town U18: Bald, Ireland, Cartwright, Licorish-Mullings, Owen (Daldy, 87’), Dobson, Guess, Carroll (Findlay, 82’), Rayfield, Barnett (Murray, 79’), Obiagwu (Evans, 68’)

Subs not used: Smith

Brentford U18: Rose, Ivanov (Agyei, 79’), Samuels, Francis, Klimas, Shield, Ombok (Halil, 57’), McSorley, Grey, Bennison (Peters, 63’), Poliakov (Djoro, 63’)

Subs not used: Asemokhai

Mixed review for young Bees' roadtrip

Brentford Under-18 head coach Lydia Bedford was pleased with her side's start and possession dominance on Saturday, however added that the young Bees could improve on their play in the final third.

A strong opening 20 minutes in both halves were countered by two Northampton goals in each half, Bedford highlighting some of the key reasons why post-match.

"I think we started the game really positively, for large parts of the first half we dominated possession very similar to last week," said Bedford.

"I think we didn't manage to build with any quality in high areas of the pitch which minimised the amount of chances we created.

"So despite having a lot of possession, we then probably lost the ball in quite vulnerable areas which allowed them to counter and get some opportunities against us."