Anderson strikes at Orient
The under-18s have enjoyed a four game unbeaten spell in recent weeks, meaning they have only lost twice in the last 12 matches.
Whilst recent frustrations over postponements have threatened to spoil the good work put in place before the New Year, the Reds have more then held their own in friendly and league action recently.
There was a 4-4 draw with Premier League side Crystal Palace in a friendly.
Having found themselves 4-1 down at the break, the young Reds recovered with a strong second half performance that could have seen them go on to win the game. Emmanuel Rowe scored two whilst the other scorers were Tope Fowodu and Ollie Gill.
Reds followed up that impressive performance with a 4-1 victory over Hayes & Yeading in another friendly. Crawley altered their formation to adopt a more attacking approach which paid off as an Alex Laing penalty was followed by goals from Cecil Jee, Emmanuel Rowe and Scott Melville.
The most impressive result and performance of the season from came at the Beckham Academy against Brentford. Steve Martin and Mark Beard’s side led 2-1 at the break after a tight first half but they stepped it up a gear in the second period to run out 8-1 winners.
The introduction of Scott Melville at the break turned out to be a very good decision as the striker scored almost immediately at the start of the second half.
Melville added a second goal while Harry Anderson (2), Rowe, Daniel Hector, Alex Laing and Bradley Isaacs were also on target.
In the SE Youth Alliance League fixture against Leyton Orient last Saturday, Reds levelled the game up in the 85th minute to secure a 1-1 draw against their hosts.
The Reds dominated most of the play but found themselves 1-0 down going into the break, however after many missed chances Anderson popped up to covert Rowe’s cross with five minutes to go.
Coach Beard was full of praise for his youngsters after a difficult last month.
He said: “The boys attitude since the club announced the closure of the Academy has been fantastic and that reflects in the results. They haven’t got their heads down, they’ve worked hard because they know that every time they play that there could be somebody scouting them.
“We as a club are doing our best to find our players a new club or academy so they can continue their football development.”
You can watch highlights of the friendly win over Brentford by clicking here.
