humiliating: Report on the U21s as Reading trash Arsenal 5-2

At the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Tuesday night, our Under-21s lost 5-2 to Reading’s first team to end the Bristol Street Motors Trophy group stage.

Despite placing second in the group, we were nevertheless able to advance to the competition’s knockout stages.

Members of the first team squad Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson both started the game, with the former winning it 2-0 after goals from Reading’s Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan and Caylan Vickers. We were behind 3-1 at the half when Ehibhatiomhan scored his brace.

• We were ahead 3-2 thanks to a masterful play from Arsenal
• Nelson, but with 30 minutes remaining, Ovie Ejeheri saved an Ehibhatiomhan penalty. However, Harvey Knibbs gave arsenal
• Reading a two-goal advantage again, and we were unable to tie the score. Joel Pereira saved another penalty that Vieira had in the second half. We ended the game with ten men after Ayden Heaven saw red, and Sam Smith scored a late goal to make it 5-2.

Royals start on top

The hosts’ first opportunity of the game came when Ehibhatiomhan dragged a low shot wide of the far post following a careless pass from Heaven, and Ejeheri then skillfully played the ball over to Nelson on the left. After reversing course, he came across Bradley Ibrahim, who managed to poke the ball past Vieira before it ran out of play.

Before Reading took the lead, Charles Sagoe Jr. drifted in from the right and hammered a low left-footed shot straight at Pereira.

Nesta Guinness-Walker received the ball from Vickers and placed it on a plate for Ehibhatiomhan to tap in.

Jack Henry-Francis put his body on the line to block another shot from Ehibhatiomhan and concede a corner, which was fizzed over to Tom Holmes, his header caught comfortably by Ejeheri.

At the other end, Nelson’s rising strike was tipped over the bar following tidy build-up between Ibrahim and Vieira, but Reading punished us on the break from our following corner.

Paul Mukairu found Vickers on the counter-attack, who slotted the ball into the bottom left corner for 2-0.

Sagoe Jnr fired wide of the far post with power having been played in by Ibrahim as we looked for a way back into the game, while Ejeheri kept the score at 2-0 by stopping the cross from Vickers, who had shown good footwork to get into our penalty area.

Vieira offers hope

Nelson had a narrow angle and fired high over the bar, but we did manage to equalize when Reuell Walters poked the ball through for Edwards to run onto. After Edwards was brought down by Pereira, he maneuvered around him, and the referee signaled for a penalty.

With precision, Vieira positioned it in the lower-right corner. Reading leads 2-1.

After Guinness-Walker’s inviting cross was cleared by Jayden Wareham, Reading’s two-goal lead was again established in the 35th minute by Ehibhatiomhan’s shot into the bottom right corner.

Walters, constantly overlapping and bombing down the right wing, had a cross caught at the other end before a great sliding challenge from Taylor Foran on Mukairu saw us concede a corner.

Just before half-time, Nelson cut in from the left and had a shot deflected wide. Vieira floated the corner to Foran at the back post, who headed it back across goal. Edwards acrobatically struck wide with his back to goal and we went into the break 3-1 down.

Nelson takes control

Early in the second half, Nelson helped to reduce the arrears once more, taking the ball from the left wing to the byline and producing a brilliant piece of skill to create an opening for a cross to Edwards, who just had to tap the ball across the line for 3-2.

But, with just over half an hour remaining, Mukairu was tripped in the penalty area by Walters and the referee pointed to the spot again.

On a hat-trick, Ehibhatiomhan stepped up to take the penalty, but Ejeheri saved it brilliantly, stretching down to his left to push the ball behind for a corner, which was headed wide by Harlee Dean.

We were pushed back down to two goals behind in the 68th minute, a header over the top of our backline falling for Knibbs to volley in for 4-2.

Vieira’s cross was then headed towards goal by Walters as the ball deflected wide for a corner to us, which came out to Miguel Azeez. His venomous strike was spilled into the path of Foran who smashed it across the line, but the flag went up for offside.

Vickers played a delicate one-two with Knibbs on the right before shooting wide of the post as Reading looked to increase their lead further, before Clinton Mola forced a save from Ejeheri.

With nine minutes to go, Nelson did well to draw a foul from Dean in the penalty area. Vieira stepped up to take and went for the bottom right again, but this time Pereira got down to make the save.

Searching for a fifth, Lewis Wing found Vickers in space on the right and he shot straight at Ejeheri, before Seb Ferdinand drilled the ball across to Edwards, whose shot went out for a corner.

Mountain to climb

We were reduced to ten men in the 89th minute as Heaven was sent off for a strong challenge, before the fourth official indicated there would be 12 minutes of added time.

Matty Carson setup a chance for Wing who had time and space to go for goal, but once again it was straight at Ejeheri, who was able to make a simple catch.

Ferdinand’s cross was met on the volley but Edwards and Henry-Francis carried it over the bar as we continued to fight for our third goal of the evening, but Smith then buried the ball into the bottom right for 5-2 to finish the scoring.

What it means

We finish second in Group O of the competition, qualifying for the knockout stages.

What’s next

Following the November international break, we make the trip to Keys Park on Monday, December 4 to face West Bromwich Albion U21s in Premier League 2 Division One. There is also an Under-19s game against RC Lens in the UEFA Youth League on Wednesday, November 29, which many of the same players will be involved in.

Team sheet

Arsenal: Ejeheri, Walters, Foran, Monlouis (Ferdinand 78), Heaven, Ibrahim (Azeez 56), Henry-Francis, Vieira, Sagoe Jnr, Edwards, Nelson (Nichols 90+5).

Substitutes (not used): Hillson, Gower, Oulad M’Hand, Kacurri.

Reading: Pereira, Holmes, Dean, Mukairu, Ehibhatiomhan (Smith 73), Guinness-Walker (Wing 63), Wareham (Knibbs 65), Mbengue (Mola 74), Craig, Vickers (Wellens 86), Carson.

Substitutes (not used): Button, Ahmed.