Five-star Pompey Academy claim win
The Blues were utterly dominant throughout the one-sided contest, with Tommy Scutt leading the scoring with a well-taken double as Adam May, Eddie Wakley and substitute Dan Smith completed the rout.
Defender Kyle McDowell was unfortunate to put through his own net for the Robins’ consolation strike.
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Hide AdIntriguingly, coach Mikey Harris brought sub goalkeeper Nick Hall on up front for the final half an hour, having been impressed with the teenager’s outfield performances in training sessions.
But despite a resounding win and highly-impressive all-round team performance, hard taskmaster Harris harboured regrets his side had not converted more chances.
Overall, though, the under-18s boss was delighted with the display.
He said: ‘I was really pleased with the performance as a whole.
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Hide Ad‘But if I am being hyper-critical we need to make sure that we take our chances.
‘I appreciate that because we have scored five that sounds unusual.
‘Scoring five was really good but in terms of our chance to goal ratio today we just lacked a little bit of composure in front of goal.
‘It could have been a little more comfortable for us had we taken those chances.
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Hide Ad‘You want the lads to score for themselves but that it just me really nit-picking!
‘I am delighted with the performance.
‘Some of our passing patterns, our movements and the way that we like to play came out in abundance today.
‘Consequently, we got a good performance and a really good result.’
On a day full of positives for the Academy, one potential negative arrived in the form of Jez Bedford’s exit from the game.
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Hide AdThe tricky attacker suffered a shoulder injury which will now be monitored by the club’s medical department.
POMPEY ACADEMY: Bass; Widdrington, Saidy, Wakley, McDowell (Smith 80); Oxlade-Chamberlain, May; Haitham, Bedford (Mayes 55), Scutt; Joseph-Buadi (Hall 60)