Charlton U18s 4 Hull City U18s 1
Charlton’s U18s produced an excellent comeback at The Valley on Saturday afternoon in a 4-1 win over Hull City in the Professional Development League play-off semi-final.
The victory sent Jason Pearce’s side through to the PDL play-off final, where they will meet Wigan Athletic.
It took both sides around 15 minutes to settle into the contest, with neither team able to carve out a clear opening early on.
Bradley Tagoe looked lively down the left-hand side and forced a save out of Kerr Reynolds.
Hull took the lead after 29 minutes when a free-kick was delivered towards the back post. Finley Woodham misjudged his clearance, allowing the Tigers to capitalise. Sasha Gomeniuk was later credited with the goal.
Charlton had an excellent chance to level the scoring from the restart, as Phoenix Valentine and Ellis McMillan linked up well in the middle of the park. The ball was played back across to Valentine who had a shot, but his effort fizzed across the front of goal.
Hull almost doubled their lead before half-time, as a long ball over the top evaded the young Addicks’ defence. Woodham did well to prevent any danger.
Sam Washington-Amoah brought Charlton level on 56 minutes. The home side had struggled to get into a rhythm after the break but managed get themselves back into the contest when Washington-Amoah’s strike from the edge of the area squeezed through the legs of Reynolds in goal.
Just two minutes later, the young Addicks remarkably found themselves in front. Raynon Richman got the better of the Hull defence and fired his side ahead with an excellent shot from the edge of box.
Just after taking the lead, Pearce made a change as Kacper Podgorny came on to replace Tagoe.
The young Addicks added a third goal in the 75th minute when the substitute Podgorny found the net. McMillan did brilliantly to beat his marker, before picking out Podgorny in some space inside the penalty area and he made no mistake with his finish.
Podgorny was causing trouble again for the Tigers, as he hit post with a long-range effort that ricocheted back into the arms of Reynolds.
On 76 minutes, Kayode Peterkin and Jack Belton entered the fray in place of Shia-Lee Burnham and McMillan.
Charlton added a fourth goal in stoppage time after being awarded a penalty. Podgorny was fouled inside the area and the referee immediately awarded a spot-kick. Peterkin stepped up and slotted it home into the bottom corner to round off a stellar afternoon for Pearce’s side.
Details of the U18s’ PDL play-off final against Wigan will be confirmed in due course.
Charlton: Woodham; Valentine, Elliott (c), Ezenwata, Davis; Thomas, McMillan (Belton 76), Washington-Amoah; Richman, Burnham (Peterkin 76) Tagoe (Podgorny 61)
Subs (not used): Williams, Muvhuti
Goals: Washington-Amoah 56, Richman 58, Podgorny 75, Peterkin (pen) 90+3
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