by Jeff King (With Thanks To Anth Johnson)
Durham County FA U-18s Saturday League - Saturday 25th January 2025
Chester-le-Street United U-18s 2 v 0 Billingham Town U-18s
The Under-18s first game back since before Christmas today mainly due to the weather and the youngsters didn’t disappoint. A final scoreline of 2-0 flattered the opposition with United being dominant throughout.
Chester should have been ahead within 10 minutes when Max Hepworth cut the ball back to Shay Pye for a chance at the front post but the talented forward couldn't finish it.
After sustained pressure from United the deadlock was finally broken when Alex White rose highest from a corner on 20 mins to bullet in a header to fire United ahead.
It could have been two after some good team build up play allowed Brandon Ngoyi Wansay to come close forcing a scrambling save from the Billingham keeper.
The away side had their only shot of the first half in the closing stages which was comfortably saved by Alex Lambert.
On the stroke of half time the Chester boys went further ahead after some good work from, Sam Beattie, Ethan Connelly saw Ethan Bell force a parried save from the keeper.
The ball then fell into the path of Pye who struck the ball past the keeper with venom to double the United lead and allow them to go in at half-time two goals to the good.
The away team lifted their game as the second half opened working harder in the second 45 minutes and made it more difficult for United to dictate the game with the same composure and dominance that they had in the first half.
Without the same fluency United were still able to keep creating chances but could have done better in the last third with their decision making and final pass in and around the box.
The Chester back four of Harrison Price, White, Brooklyn Moss and Ngoyi Wansay were resilient and made good use of the ball being patient making good decisions to play short into midfield often ignoring hopeful longer balls especially Moss.
Ollie Linsley, Connelly and Bell combined well in central midfield to keep us on the front foot throughout.
The second half saw the introduction of Josh Reid in goal who was rarely challenged along with Zac Hall who did well on the right hand side going forward.
Also making his debut was Park View Performance Centre U-16 player George Peacock who looked at home playing at the next level and could quite easily have had a couple of goals.
Overall it was a decent team performance from United and a good 3 points especially having not played a competitive game since December a gap of 5 weeks.
TEAM : 1)Alex Lambert 2)Harrison Price 3)Brandon Ngoyi Wansay 4)Brooklyn Moss 5)Alex White 6)Ethan Connelly 7)Shay Pye 8)Ollie Linsley 9)Sam Beattie 10)Ethan Bell 11)Max Hepworth
SUBS : 12)Zac Hall 14)George Peacock 15)Josh Reid
SCORERS : Alex White, Shay Pye
MAN of the MATCH : Ollie Linsley - great work rate and desire from the first whistle which set the tone for his team. Made great use of the ball whilst in possession with good decisions.
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