Premier League 2<\/b><\/p>\n
Aston Villa U21 0<\/b><\/p>\n
Leeds United U21 3 <\/b>(Cresswell 12\u2019, Gray 45\u2019, 70\u2019)<\/p>\n
Villa:<\/b> Hollingshead (GK), McWilliams, Patterson (Fortes 66\u2019), Carroll, Mosquera, Borland (C), Burrowes, Kon\u00e9, Cotcher (Lott 43\u2019), Brannigan, Pavey (Jenner 83\u2019). Subs not used:<\/b> Asemota (GK), Routh.<\/p>\n
Leeds:<\/b> Mahady (GK), Dudley, Lienou, Cresswell (C), Lopata-White, Howson, Douglas (McDonald 46\u2019 (Brockie76\u2019)), Chadwick, Gray, Pickles, Bird (Pirie 87\u2019). Subs not used:<\/b> Ombang (GK), Enahoro-Marcus.<\/p>\n
Referee: <\/b>Matthew Scholes<\/p>\n
Booked: <\/b>Kon\u00e9, Mosquera, Brannigan (Villa) Dudley (Leeds)<\/p>\n
Venue: <\/b>Bodymoor Heath<\/p>\n
Leeds United Under-21s began their Premier League 2 campaign with an emphatic 3-0 victory away at Aston Villa Under-21s.<\/p>\n
Firsth-half goals from skipper Alfie Cresswell and forward Harry Gray saw the Whites take a commanding lead into the break before the striker made sure of the three points with his second in the closing stages.<\/p>\n
Scott Gardner had named four changes to the side that were defeated at Boston United last time out, handing starts to Louie Dudley, Jayden Lienou, Jonny Howson and Connor Douglas.<\/p>\n
United goalkeeper Rory Mahady had to be alert early on in the West Midlands, producing a fine sprawling save to deny Cole Brannigan\u2019s drilled low effort after a quick Villa break.<\/p>\n
Immediately down the other end it was Ronnie Hollingshead\u2019s turn to make an impressive intervention, tipping Rhys Chadwick\u2019s fiercely struck volley over the crossbar.<\/p>\n
The midfielder was involved moments later and this time there was nothing the hosts\u2019 stopper could do to prevent the opener!<\/p>\n
Chadwick\u2019s dangerous out-swinging delivery was met by the onrushing Cresswell, powering an inch-perfect header off the inside of the far post and into the back of the net.<\/p>\n
In an encounter that had started with an electric tempo at Bodymoor Heath, Villa went desperately close to levelling proceedings through Mohamed Kon\u00e9 who glanced narrowly wide from a corner kick before Brannigan arrowed a low drive past the upright.<\/p>\n
The Whites doubled their advantage moments before the break in clinical fashion. Fantastic tenacity from Cresswell won the ball for Douglas on the edge of the home team\u2019s penalty area.<\/p>\n
The attacker threaded an intricate pass through for Gray who made no mistake from close range, showing great composure to beat Hollingshead and pick out the bottom corner!<\/p>\n
HALF TIME: Aston Villa U21 0-2 Leeds United U21<\/b><\/p>\n
Gardner\u2019s side emerged for the second period with one alteration to the lineup as Josh McDonald made a welcome return from injury, replacing the hard-working Douglas.<\/p>\n
Leeds were quick out of the blocks as they looked for a third. An enticing delivery from Coban Bird floated towards Gray though, under pressure from a claret and blue shirt, the striker was unable to work the goalkeeper.<\/p>\n
Approaching the hour mark and Mahady had to be at his very best to preserve the two-goal cushion, making a sublime diving save to divert Bradley Burrowes\u2019 rasping shot away from danger.<\/p>\n
That intervention came shortly after the Scotland youth international was alert and raced out to gather substitute Max Lott\u2019s tame effort.<\/p>\n
The Whites did deservedly grab a third of the evening with 20 minutes of the clash remaining as Gray doubled his tally in predatory fashion.<\/p>\n
Cresswell initially met Lienou\u2019s whipped delivery and saw a first-time opportunity cannon off a Villa defender and into the path of the forward who made no mistake at the back post!<\/p>\n
Keen to wrestle back momentum, Charlie Pavey raced through on goal after latching onto a clever through ball. Just as the attacker shaped to shoot, a fantastic last-ditch challenge from Reuben Lopata-White crucially dispossessed the Villa man.<\/p>\n
Jimmy Shan\u2019s team went close to reducing the deficit late on when Burrowes skewed a wild effort over the upright before Matthew Scholes\u2019 full-time whistle signalled an impressive three points for the Whites!<\/p>\n
FULL TIME: Aston Villa U21 0-3 Leeds United U21<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier League 2 Aston Villa U21 0 Leeds United U21 3 (Cresswell 12\u2019, Gray 45\u2019, 70\u2019) Villa: Hollingshead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-347579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115035054095540339","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}