Liverpool Under-18s fell at the last hurdle as a gifted
Arsenal side rounded off a 6-2 aggregate win in the FA Youth Cup
final on Tuesday night.
The class of 2009 had it all to do at Anfield after a 4-1
Emirates defeat on Friday, and their agony was only compounded as
Sanchez Watt and Daniel Ayala (OG) fired to give the young Gunners
a 2-1 victory on the night.
Reds hitman Lauri Dalla Valle struck a consolation but a third
Youth Cup triumph in four years never looked likely.
Rafa Benitez, Sammy Lee, Jamie Carragher and 7,792
Kopites turned out in hope of a miracle comeback, but instead
witnessed another display of sublime football from Steve Bould's
charges.
Arsenal began causing problems within five minutes, Jack Wilshere
teasing a ball across the face of goal towards skipper Jay
Emmanuel-Thomas, who was denied by the feet of Liverpool stopper
Dean Bouzanis.
The young Gunners almost came unstuck when Dalla Valle pounced on a
loose backpass. The Finn has spent the entire season gobbling up
such chances but came up short this time with a sidefoot beyond the
post.
It was a momentary lapse from the visitors, for whom
Emmanuel-Thomas was next to threaten with a 20-yard dink which
dipped just wide of the Kop goal.
Wilshere then came close from a corner before forcing Joe Kennedy
into a diving block - a trick the Liverpool captain soon had to
repeat to thwart No.9 Gilles Sunu.
Liverpool, meanwhile, were unlucky not to reduce the aggregate
deficit when Christopher Buchtmann - playing in central midfield
instead of left-back - fed Alex Kacaniklic, whose left-footed
effort produced a fine save from James Shea at his near post.
Instead it was Arsenal who extended their 4-1 advantage when both
Kennedy and Ayala failed to deal with an Emmanuel-Thomas long ball.
Watt found space between the two centre-backs before finishing
beyond Bouzanis.
Like their senior colleagues, Arsenal Under-18s play fluid
attacking football, and it nearly produced another goal when Henri
Lansbury found himself on the end of a slick passing move only to
be denied by a last-ditch challenge from Steven
Irwin.
With his dad Paul watching from the directors' box, Thomas Ince
tested Shea from distance, but the frustration continued for Hughie
McAuley's men.
Arsenal kept finding a way through, with Sunu next to bear down on
goal. His shot was just too close to Bouzanis and the overall score
remained 5-1.
The Academy's finest hit back within six minutes of the restart
when Buchtmann's header forward was picked up by Dalla Valle, who
capitalised on the indecisiveness of Kyle Bartley to go one-on-one.
This time he gave Shea no chance and suddenly Anfield was
roused.
Buchtmann forced a save with a sweet left-foot strike from
distance, while Amoo rippled the side-netting after ghosting down
the right.
Arsenal regained control from there, and it took a fingertip save
from Bouzanis to prevent Watt grabbing a second with a wicked turn
and shot.
The striker was instrumental when Arsenal eventually doubled their
Anfield lead on 70 minutes. It was Watt's low cross past Kennedy
which Ayala diverted into his own net.
Bouzanis had to pull off a smart save to prevent Watt making it 7-2
on aggregate on 73 minutes, by which stage Liverpool's dream of
claiming a fourth Youth Cup were dead and buried.