Portsmouth 5 Aston Villa U21s 0: Neil Allen's verdict: Brilliant Blues inflict hammering, yet victory marred by injury concerns over Ipswich loanee Joe Pigott

Aston Villa Under-21s were thumped 5-0 as Danny Cowley’s much-changed side claimed a first group win of the Papa John’s Trophy campaign.

Substitute Koroma, who netted in the previous home match against Plymouth, added two more to his Fratton tally.

However, amid the smiles and cheers, there were worries over the injury to Pigott which forced the striker off after 34 minutes.

With just three natural centre-forwards on the Blues’ books, they can ill-afford to lose the former AFC Wimbledon man for any period of time.

As it was, Pigott’s entrance opened the door for Koroma to be introduced from the bench, with the Huddersfield man responding by claiming two second-half goals.

Indeed, the foundations had already been dug as early as the seventh minute, with the hosts establishing a 2-0 lead.

Ronan Curtis broke the deadlock after just 67 seconds, when Pigott’s shot had been saved, then man-of-the-match Michael Jacobs added a second.

With the scoreline 2-0 at half-time, after the break Koroma netted twice in 10 minutes, with Reeco Hackett, operating as a striker for the evening, completing the victory.

Justification then for Cowley, who made 10 changes to the side which lost 3-2 at Ipswich on Saturday, with Sean Raggett the only constant.

The 2,805 crowd, of which 232 were Villa followers, were treated to an entertaining match which extended Pompey’s unbeaten record at Fratton Park to 16 games.

Nonetheless, the issue of Pigott’s injury added a negative to an otherwise excellent evening for the Blues.

Cowley used the fixture to rotate his side, handing match minutes to fringe players and those to have recently returned following injury.

As a result, Reeco Hackett, Denve Hume, Zak Swanson, Jay Mingi and Ryan Tunnicliffe all joined Sean Raggett – the only survivor from the 3-2 loss at Ipswich – in the starting XI.

Elsewhere, the out-of-favour Kieron Freeman was given his third outing since dislocating his ankle in February, albeit asked to occupy an unfamiliar centre-half role alongside Raggett.

Michael Jacobs featured after his recent return to availability at Portman Road, with Ronan Curtis named after coming off the bench to win a second-half penalty in Saturday’s loss.

And there was a first start in five matches for Joe Pigott, ineligible to play against parent club Ipswich, who partnered Hackett in a Pompey front two.

The Blues’ bench included Joe Morrell and Josh Koroma, but otherwise it bore a youthful look, with five Academy players.

These consisted of goalkeeper Malachi Osei-Owusu, Adam Payce, Harvey Laidlaw, Brian Quarm and Dan Murray.

Villa kicked the match off, only to fall behind after 67 seconds through Curtis.

Jacobs played the ball to Pigott down the left and his angled right-footed shot was pushed out by keeper Filip Marschall and tapped into an empty net by the Irishman.

Curtis checked for the offside flag, but there was no issue, and the hosts had themselves an early lead established in simple fashion.

Pompey doubled their lead on seven minutes when Denver Hume put out a foot to dispossess Taylor-Jay Hart on the edge of the box.

The ball fell helpfully to Jacobs down the left, who cut across the box and, with his third touch, drilled a right-footed shot into the far bottom corner with admirable ease.

It was a blistering start from the Blues, yet awful Villa defending contributed to their own downfall before the hosts had even broken sweat.

On 12 minutes, the lively Jacobs took the ball down smartly and pulled the ball back from the left to find Hackett, but his first-team shot was blocked.

Moments later, Jacobs fed the overlapping Hume and slid a pass to Pigott, whose right-footed shot was pushed around the post by Marschall.

Villa responded with Kyrie Pierre firing an angled shot from the right which Josh Oluwayemi did well to block, with Freeman’s acrobatic overhead kick completing the clearance.

Cowley’s men were threatening with every attack and, on 27 minutes, Hume’s deep cross from the left was met with an angled far-post header from Curtis which the flying Marschall pushed out.

Pompey were forced into a substitution on 34 minutes, with a seemingly injured Pigott coming off to be replaced by Josh Koroma, who slotted in up front alongside Hackett.

The scoreline remained 2-0 at half-time and, after the break, Pompey brought on Joe Morrell for Raggett, with Mingi dropping back to partner Freeman in the centre of defence.

Villa themselves made two substitutions, with Lamare Bogarde and Ruben Shakpoke replaced by Seb Revan and Declan Frith.

Pompey picked up where they left off, with Jacobs receiving Koroma’s ball into the left channel of the box and twisting and turning before shooting against the post.

Yet it was 3-0 on 53 minutes when Jacobs’ shot with the outside of his right foot was pushed out by the keeper, where it was controlled by Tunnicliffe, who unselfishly squared to Koroma inside the box.

The substitute gleefully took up the invitation to shoot, producing a first-time right-footed finish into the roof of the net to effectively seal the contest.

On 63 minutes it was 4-0 to the hosts when Tunniclifffe and Koroma combined inside the box and the latter fired a right-footed first-time shot which beat Marschall at his near post to find the net.

Man-of-the-match Jacobs came off to an excellent reception from the home fans and, moments later, it was 5-0.

On 69 minutes, Hackett drove forward with the ball and unleashed a low left-footed shot from 25-yards which found the bottom corner of the net.

Koroma had a golden chance for a hat-trick with 10 minutes remaining, yet dragged his shot wide of the far post when well-positioned inside the box.

In the 82nd minute, Laidlaw and Quarm were introduced for Mingi and Hume, giving the youngsters a taste of Fratton Park.

Yet there was to be no further addition to the scoreline as Pompey breezed to victory over Villa’s kids to strengthen hopes of group qualification in the Papa John’s Trophy.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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