Brentford U18s 5 Colchester United U18s 3 | OneFootball

Brentford Under-18s made it three successive games unbeaten in the Professional Development League with a 5-3 win over Colchester United Under-18s on Saturday afternoon.

After going down inside the opening 25 minutes at Robert Rowan Performance Centre, the young Bees responded through an Enrique Roca free-kick to equalise. Brentford took the lead through Domeiro Bobb-Semple soon after, an own goal making it three in the first half for the hosts.

Second half strikes from Kaya Halil and Freddie Taylor secured the three points for the young Bees in an entertaining display.

In sunny conditions in west London Brentford started strongly, dominating possession across the opening 15 minutes without threatening the visitors’ defense.

Despite their early dominance, Brentford found themselves down as the 20-minute mark passed. Isaiah Powis took down Elkanah Akor inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot, Rashaad Drysdale stepping up and scoring.

Despite going down it was the young Bees who remained on the front foot as play resumed. A Halil free-kick from the edge of the box on 28 minutes raced towards the bottom right corner, however it was kept out by Colchester goalkeeper Jack Sexton and cleared away for a corner.

Two minutes later it was Roca’s turn to take a long-range free-kick, the midfielder striking it superbly as it flew into the top right corner to equalise for Brentford.

The hosts wasted little time in taking the lead, Halil’s corner bobbling around in the box before falling to Bobb-Semple at the front post who tapped it in from close range.

Brentford had their third in the blink of an eye, a counterattack play ending with a cross into the box, the ball deflecting off a Colchester defender and into the goal to make it 3-1.

Needing to shift the momentum before the break, the visitors came inches from finding a second goal in the final minutes of the first half. Matas Klimas blocked an initial shot after the young Bees gave the ball away, before goalkeeper Connor Wolfheimer dived quickly to his right to tip the ball into the bar before it was cleared away.

Coming out of the break Brentford started where they had left off in the first half, the hosts finding their fourth goal through Halil within two minutes. The midfielder took possession on the edge of the left side of the box, played the ball to his right and fired a superb strike into the top right corner of the net.

The game evened out following the young Bees’ strong start, Colchester eventually finding a second goal on the hour mark. Their free-kick bobbled around inside the box before being tapped in to make it 4-2.

The momentum was short lived for the visitors, however, as a Brentford counterattack on 64 minutes saw them add a fifth. Taylor took possession from a Halil pass, his strike taking a deflection off a Colchester defender and cannoning into the top right corner of the net.

As the game entered its final minutes the visitors enjoyed a wave of momentum as they put the young Bees’ defence under pressure.

They saw reward for effort on 86 minutes, Kai Martin playing the ball through to Daniel Banjoko who finished well to add a third.

Brentford U18s: Wolfheimer, Taylor, Trialist (Ivanov 74), Klimas, Powis (Francis 60), Honor, Roca, Bentt, Halil (Owusu 71), Poliakov, Bobb-Semple (Peters 71)

Subs not used: Anderson

Colchester United U18s: Sexton, Akor, Frank, Banjoko, Abidekun, Lewis, Drysdale, Harvey, Makatta, Sabah, Moore

Subs: Kosoko, Martin, Campino Do Vale, Sasere, Trialist

Pittman pleased with confident performance

Jon-Paul Pittman was full of praise for his side's performance against Colchester United Under-18s, in particular the opening 70 minutes.

The 5-3 win at Robert Rowan Performance Centre was the young Bees' third-successive game unbeaten in the Professional Development League.