Liverpool U18s Lose 4-3 Thriller Against Manchester City U18s

While the Liverpool men won’t be playing against Chelsea as planned this weekend, the young Reds were still on. Liverpool U18s welcomed Manchester City U18s for an early afternoon match in the sun.

The 4-3 thriller didn’t end up going in the right direction, despite the heroic efforts of Lewis Koumas, who scored a brace to try and push the team forward.

Liverpool’s other goalscorer on the day was Trent Kone-Doherty, which was fitting because that other Trent fellow with three names was in attendance at Kirkby to watch the match. Trent Alexander-Arnold? Perhaps you’ve heard of him? Runs fast, floats in crosses like a dream, occasionally known to take corners quickly?

The Reds succumbed first in the 24th minute, allowing a probing Manchester City to finally open up the scoring through a good run from Ashton Muir, who smartly pulled the ball back for Joel Ndala to convert it past Liverpool keeper Fabian Mrozek.

While things started out rough, in the 32nd minute, Liverpool began their ill-fated comeback. First Koumas scored on the rebound of his blocked header to even things up. Then his aggressive play allowed him to intercept a clearance from City’s keeper and get the ball to Kone-Doherty to score a second before halftime.

When the game restarted, it only took three minutes for Liverpool to score again. Ben Doak, who also had an excellent match, charged down the right and hit in a cross that Koumas connected and for the Reds’ third and final goal of the afternoon.

From then on, Manchester City hit the gas and railroaded over Liverpool in the final 25 minutes, scoring three goals in quick succession and coming out of the match with a 4-3 victory.

It was a disappointing result, despite some strong individual performances from Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s players.