Football League Youth Alliance

Merit League 1

Saturday 23rd March 2019

Kick Off 11.00. On Time !

Stevenage U18 4 A.F.C. Bournemouth U18 0, attendance 79

21’ 1-0

26’ 2-0

31’ 3-0

80’ 4-0

@ Shephalbury Sports Academy

Broadhall Way

Stevenage

SG2 8RH

No Admission or Programme.

Stevenage are one of the clubs who openly advertise their youth matches as being open to the public, and it pays off, as this was one of the better crowds that I have seen at this level of the youth leagues. It was also easy to check where the match was being played, as it is possible to telephone the venue, which was worthwhile yesterday, as I learned that the match would be kicking off at 11 o’clock, which is half an hour later than they normally start here, although the Bournemouth website had the game down for a noon start.

Bournemouth actually looked the better side early on, but three goals in a ten minute spell, including missing a penalty when it was 1-0, saw Stevenage take control by the half hour mark and they never looked like being pegged back. It was a surprise that we had to wait until ten minutes from the end to see a goal in the second half, but an unstoppable shot from the corner of the 18 yard box rounded off the scoring.