U15s Report: Palace through to the Floodlit Cup regional final

Summary

• Palace faced Villa in the semi-final of the U15 Floodlit Cup after beating Arsenal 4-0 in the previous round

• Dashi opened the scoring for the young Eagles 10 minutes in

• After a missed penalty, Palace doubled their lead through Henry 35 minutes in

• Villa pulled one back just before half-time

• Half-time: Crystal Palace 2-1 Aston Villa

• Derry added Palace’s third five minutes after the restart

• Henry headed onto the bar from a corner on the hour mark

• Lameiras scored the fourth for Palace with 20 minutes to go

• Full-time: Crystal Palace 4-1 Aston Villa

The Floodlit Cup is an U15 tournament, part of the Premier League's Youth Development Phase, designed to provide an experience of playing matches in the evening in tricky conditions. This is to ensure the players are prepared for similar situations as they progress to U18s, U23s and beyond.

The young Eagles compete in the U15 Floodlit Cup each season. They last won it in 2019, with a number of familiar names such as Jack Wells-Morrison, Tayo Adaramola and Fionn Mooney part of the winning squad.

Palace welcomed Aston Villa to Copers Cope for the southern region semi-final, after successfully overcoming Brighton, Charlton and Millwall in the initial group stage and Arsenal in the first knockout round.

With home advantage and family watching on, the young Eagles got off to the perfect start. Dashi put Palace ahead 10 minutes in with a well taken finish inside the box, following great build up play down the left hand side between Derry and Bonsu-Amako.

Looking to double the advantage, Williams had a shot from about 25-yards out moments later that went narrowly over the bar.

After a brief delay in play due to an injury, Palace were awarded a penalty as Derry was brought down inside the box by the Villa ‘keeper. The forward stepped up to take the chance for 12-yards, though his strong shot was met by an equally impressive save.

Undeterred by the penalty miss, the young Eagles pressed on and secured their second through Henry. A brilliantly worked move from Koshaba in goal all the way through to Henry in attack saw Palace double their lead.

Villa looked for a way back into the game after hitting the post after Palace's second. They managed to salvage a goal back just before half-time with a cross looping over the Palace ‘keeper and into the net.

As the heavens opened at the start of the second-half, Palace used the conditions to their advantage. Derry notched the third from close range after the Villa defence failed to deal with a ball across the box.

A corner moments after the third saw Henry rise highest, though his header rebounded off the crossbar and out for a goal kick.

Second-half substitute Lameiras added Palace’s fourth and final goal to complete the rout as the hail came crashing down. An excellent through ball from Dashi picked him out and he made no mistake inside the box.

Conditions deteriorated as the weather got worse, though the young Eagles managed to see the game out with ease.

The victory means they progress to the regional final of the U15 Floodlit Cup, where they will face Watford. The winner of that game will progress to the overall final.