Report: Five-star Palace win U15 Floodlit Cup South

Summary

• Palace beat Aston Villa 5-1 in the semi-final to reach the final

• Casey opened the scoring 15 minutes in

• Casey and Judd almost doubled the lead a minute later

• The young Eagles doubled their lead half an hour in through Lusale

• Oduro added a third just before half-time

• Half-time: Arsenal 0-3 Crystal Palace

• Lusale nearly notched a fourth straight after the restart

• Casey got his second and Palace’s fourth 63 minutes in

• Osei completed the scoring with four minutes remaining

• Full-time: Arsenal 0-5 Crystal Palace

• Crystal Palace win the U15 Floodlit Cup South

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 the Professional Development Phase and beyond into professional football.

The young Eagles compete in the U15 Floodlit Cup each season and have made at least the regional final in the previous four editions of the tournament. They last won it in 2019, with a number of familiar names such as Jack Wells-Morrison, Tayo Adaramola and Owen Goodman part of the winning squad.

Travelling to face Arsenal presented a tall order for the young Eagles, but they duly rose to the occasion and came out with a spring in their step. Oduro did well early on, directly running at the Arsenal defence and causing a lot of problems.

The hosts came close to taking the lead early on, with their forward striking across the face of goal, but it was Palace who managed to get their noses in front 15 minutes in. Excellent work down the left-hand side from Dean and Somade saw the ball cut back across the box and Oduro was there to finish past the helpless Arsenal ‘keeper.

After taking the lead, Palace were pushing for a quickfire second. Two chances in the space of a minute came and went for the young Eagles as Casey saw an effort saved and Judd fired narrowly over the bar.

Half an hour in, the south Lononders managed to double their lead. A misplaced pass in midfield saw Lusale pick up the ball up and the forward drove directly towards goal and slotted past the ‘keeper with ease.

Just before half-time, the young Eagles added a third and compounded the misery for the Gunners. Great build-up play down the right from Judd saw the ball worked towards Oduro and the winger made no mistake to finish inside the box.

Following on from a dominant display in the first-half, Palace almost added a fourth straight after the restart. Lusale fired narrowly over after pouncing on a misplaced pass from the Arsenal ‘keeper.

Arsenal managed to muster some fight in the second-half, though their efforts were cancelled out by astute Palace defending and the linesman’s offside flag.

On the hour-mark, Palace managed to secure their fourth. Casey doubled his tally from inside the six-yard box to put the game beyond any doubt.

The icing on the cake came when substitute Osei added a fifth just before full-time. He made an instant impact off the bench, scoring within eight minutes of coming on.

Arsenal had a chance late on to snatch a consolation goal, but a solid save from Whitworth ensured Palace’s clean sheet stayed intact.

There was no time added on and celebrations ensued immediately after the final whistle. Palace were crowned U15 Floodlit Cup South champions for the second successive season in a row and will now face Stoke City in the National final next week.

Details about the clash with the Potters will be available on cpfc.co.uk and the Official Palace Academy Twitter account.

Crystal Palace: Whitworth (GK), Walker-Smith, Muwana, Somade (Rowe, 71), Judd, Danaher, Okoli (Fasida, 62), Dean, Lusale (Angibeaud, 68), Casey (Bedzitko, 71), Oduro (Osei, 68).

Subs not used: Mason (GK), Ajagebu.