>FA Premier Academy League (Under-17s):

Injury-time strikes from Sheku Kamara and substitute Onome Sodje gave
Charlton's improving U17 side their first home victory of the season
on Saturday morning.
In a hard-fought and often scrappy encounter in which both sets of
defences had a clear edge over the strikers, it always seemed as
though the game might be settled by a set-play, and so it was to
prove.
With coach Steve Avory selecting just four scholars compared to
seven schoolboys, it was Coventry that had a slight physical edge,
but in Myles Weston, James Walker and especially the outstanding
Alistair John, the young Addicks seemed to have far more attacking
options and it was Avory's side that were in the ascendancy for the
majority of the morning.
For the young Sky Blues, powerfully-built forward Ben Mackey was a
constant threat with his fine ability to hold the ball up, and the
Coventry captain will have felt hard done by after seeing what looked
like a perfectly legitimate 65th-minute goal disallowed.
Although Charlton were neat and tidy in midfield, they tended to
overcomplicate matters once into the final third and didn't really
give themselves the chance to let their dominance tell.
But in a devastating late blitz in which referee Mr Rowland found
seven full minutes of injury time, Charlton bagged the goals that
their superiority just about warranted.
Appearing keen to bounce back form the previous week's narrow 4-3
defeat at Arsenal, the home side surged into the lead in the ninth
minute. John, displaying a vast array of breathtaking skills coupled
with tremendous pace, dazzled three defenders before squaring a
superb pass across the six-yard box and midfielder Danny Phillips did
well to bundle the ball home from close range.
The lead only lasted three minutes, however, and from Charlton's
point of view, it was a dreadful goal to concede. After a ball had
been hopefully hooked into the box, neither Kamara nor goalkeeper
Darren Randolph took responsibility and as the ball dropped, Vijay
Sidhu stole in between the two players and managed to poke a lob over
the stranded keeper's head and into the goal.
Charlton could have been ahead less than five minutes later when a
typically direct Weston run and cross dropped to Walker but, off
balance, the hard-working front man could only manage a shot that was
deflected wide by a defender.
In one of Charlton's finest moves of the match, trilaist George
Shielis picked out John on the right and after neatly evading a
couple more tackles, the silky winger stood a ball up to the far post
where the diminutive figure of Phillips rose above a crowd of players
only to see his header sail over the top. It was Coventry that had
the best two chances to go to the break in front, though. First,
Craig Kelly's 44th-minute free-kick whistled past the far post and
then Randolph produced a courageous save at the feet of Mackey who
had latched on to Sidhu's square pass.
With John and Weston not quite getting the same level of possession
after the break, it became a game that Charlton were going to have
work hard to win as chances were few and far between for both sides.
A frantic scramble five minutes into the restart was the best
Charlton could muster early on, before Mackey appeared to have given
his side the lead in the 65th minute. Holding off Kamara on receipt
of a throw-in, the stocky forward allowed the ball to run across his
body before unleashing a purely struck shot from the edge of the box
that flew into the far corner. To no mean amount of outrage, the
effort was disallowed for excessive use of the body.
With ten minutes of normal time left, Kamara came close to scoring
one of the most bizarre own goals of the season when his over-hit
back pass went under Randolph's foot, but fortunately for keeper and
defender, the goal was a yard to the left and the ball trickled past
the near post and out for a corner.
The breakthrough finally came a shade into injury time when Kamara
lashed home Weston's corner from 12 yards, and then Sodje rose like a
salmon to glance home a wicked Weston free-kick two minutes later,
taking his tally for this season to an impressive six.
Goals from Lloyd Sam and Alex Varney gave the U19s a 2-1 win over
Fulham the day before, and a full report will be available on Monday
afternoon.

Charlton: Randolph, Ioannou, Cottrell, Clifford, Kamara, Phillips,
John, Shielis (Sodje 68), Walker, Ward (Haynes 85), Weston. Subs (not
used): Cave-Brown, Burt.

[U17s Match Report By Terry Cordwell]
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