Sheffield United U21s 1 Brentford U21s 2: Young Bees book place in PDL play-off national final | OneFootball

Brentford Under-21s cemented their spot in the Professional Development League play-off national final following a tense 2-1 after extra-time win over Sheffield United Under-21s at Eco-Power Stadium.

On a perfect day for football in Doncaster, Benjamin Fredrick scored late in the first half to give the young Bees the lead going into the break.

A Sheffield United equaliser in the second half saw the game go to extra-time, with Iwan Morgan finding the back of the net to ensure a Brentford win.

It was the visitors who started the better of the two sides in the first half as the west Londoners enjoyed the majority of possession across the opening 10 minutes.

On 18 minutes, Romelle Donovan found space down the left side and crossed the ball to Caelan Avenell at the back post. He played the ball to Morgan before the forward’s shot was blocked.

Avenell suffered the same fate as Morgan on 28 minutes, the wing-back running onto Donovan’s pass and shooting goalward, his shot was blocked and cleared.

As the half wore on, the Blades grew into the game. Their shot on the half-hour mark was kept out by Benjamin Arthur deep in Brentford’s box.

On 41 minutes, a loose pass in the young Bees’ defence led to Jevan Beattie finding space and pushing into the box, his shot kept out by Julian Eyestone.

The ensuing corner saw Billy Blacker get a good look on goal but his effort was saved by Eyestone diving low to his left.

As the first half entered stoppage-time, the young Blades looked close to an opener on multiple occasions, however it was Brentford who broke the stranglehold. Ethan Brierley’s cross from a free-kick found Fredrick deep in the box and the defender headed it home to give the visitors the lead going into the break.

Sheffield United started strongly after the restart and carried the momentum through the opening 10 minutes.

Despite that, the young Bees created the next chance as on 61 minutes, Fredrick worked some space down the right side before his cross found Max Dickov, whose shot was over the bar.

Four minutes later, it was Sheffield United who came close to finding an equaliser on the counter attack. Alfie Atherton found himself in space and shot goalward, however Eyestone dived quickly to his right and did enough to tip the ball wide of the goal and out for a corner.

Five minutes later, Atherton's strike found the back of the net to level the match at 1-1.

As the game inched closer to the final 10 minutes, Donovan continued to pose a threat down the right. He crossed to Morgan on 79 minutes, however the latter's shot went wide.

With a minute to play, the Blades again posed a threat on the counter attack as Atherton found space for a third time. He was chased down by Riley Owen, however, with the midfielder making a strong block to save a shot on target.

A minute later, Blacker fired a superb strike at goal that Eyestone tipped over the bar.

In added-time it was Ashley Hay who came close to a winner, his shot from Donovan’s pass flying over the bar as the game went to extra-time.

After Hay had a shot deflected away early in extra-time, it was Morgan who regained the Bees' lead. Owen made a superb run and immediately crossed into the box for Morgan to whip the ball into the back of the net.

In the second half of extra-time, Andre Grey was inches away from scoring the west Londoners’ third as he ran onto Tony Yogane’s cross, but the shot went wide.

In true semi-final fashion, the game was tense as the minutes counted down towards the final whistle, Brentford doing enough to book their place in their third final of the season.

Attention now turns to Thursday’s Premier League Cup final against QPR, before the Robert Rowan Invitational against Tottenham Hotspur on 19 May.

Sheffield United U21s: Hewitson, Waldron, Tahir, Blacker (Giggs 90+8), Baptiste (Trialist 85), Sasnauskas, Atherton, Makhalira (Colechin 78), Beattie, Aston, Cáceres (Francis 104)

Subs not used: Grainger

Brentford U21s: Eyestone, Avenell, Dickov (Yogane 76), Fredrick (Grey 111), Arthur, Stephenson, Krauhaus (Hay 33), Brierley, Morgan (Headman 111), Owen, Donovan (Williams 105)

Booked: Yogane 90+5

MacFarlane: Hugely proud of the players

Brentford Under-21s head coach Neil MacFarlane praised his players' efforts following their Professional Development League play-off semi-final win over Sheffield United.

"We've got an amazing bunch of boys in there, the spirit that they have is phenomenal and they should be hugely proud of themselves," said MacFarlane.

"They got their just rewards in the end not just for this afternoon, but 31 league games where they have shown unbelievably consistent levels which now takes us into our third final of the season.

"In extra-time, the game obviously became a little bit tired, but we showed our fitness levels and our mindset and really good quality in certain moments and no more so than the winning goal."