Crown Football Weekly Round-Up
It’s been a busy week with goals scored and defenders keeping clean sheets on International duty at Crown Football… Stephy Mavididi found the net twice on Tuesday afternoon in the England U20’s 4-0 victory over Czech Republic. England U20’s made it three wins out of four this autumn as they cruised past Czech Republic at St George’s Park. Keith Downing’s team, who won 5-1 in Italy last Thursday, found their shooting boots again in Burton and were more convincing than the scoreline suggested as they went three goals ahead within 36 minutes. Leicester City defender Darnell Johnson opened the scoring in the 17th minute, when he headed in a corner from the influential Connor Mahoney. Mahoney was then fouled by David Brezina eight minutes later, allowing Stephy Mavididi to slot home his first goal of the afternoon from the penalty spot. The result was then all but confirmed as Harvey Barnes flicked home Mahoney’s free-kick to put Downing’s men 3-0 up at the break. Arsenal striker Mavididi, currently on loan at Preston North End, rounded off the scoring when he converted at the near post from Callum Brittain’s right-wing cross 15 minutes from time. Congrat’s Stephy!
Liverpool U23’s captain, Corey Whelan, played for Republic of Ireland U21s team in a 0-0 draw at home against Norway followed by, yet again, a solid performance at the back in a 4-0 win against Israel. Ireland U21 boss Noel King said: “It was a great performance throughout. We kept our discipline throughout the game and to get the fourth goal in the second-half really clinched the game for us. We’ve been in all week and a lot of effort went into it, from the players and the staff as well, so it is a great reward for their hard work. We would have liked to have got two wins in the week but to stay unbeaten and to get 10 points out of 12 puts us in a great position.”
Both Corey and Lloyd Jones played in Liverpool U23’s 1-1 draw away to Charlton Athletic.Liverpool U23s kicked off their Premier League Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw at Charlton Athletic on Friday night. Liverpool continued to probe for the deciding goal but it did not materialise at the Valley, so Critchley’s side start the Premier League Cup with a point.
Alex Pascanu also played in the Premier League Cup on Wednesday 4th October, where the foxes won 3-1 away at Barnsley. The Romanian then travelled to Switzerland for the UEFA U21 Championship, where they comfortably won 3-0!
Due to his excellent form of late, Chris Maxwell received his call up to the International team, where he was on the bench for Wales’ shock defeat to Republic Ireland. The 1-0 home loss at the Cardiff Arena saw them crash out of the World Cup qualifications. Ryan Leonard made his 250th appearance in a Southend United shirt in a 2-1 win against Blackpool. Congratulations to Ryan on a great achievement!
Sam Gallagher scored his first goal for Birmingham City this season in the Championship fixture against Hull City. The Blues have just seen the appointment of new manager Steve Cotterill and will be hoping for a change of fortune in results. You can tune in to see how Birmingham City get on with their new manager, as they host Cardiff City live on SkySports 1 on Friday evening, 7:45pm.
