The Leeds United u23s started the year right with a resounding 4-1 victory over Burnley away from home, as they retained their place at the top of the PL2 Division 2 table.
The Whites were boosted by the return of summer signing, Crysencio Summerville who had been kept out by injury. Jeremiah Mullen partnered with Charlie Cresswell with Nohan Kenneh ahead of them, while Sam Greenwood started in midfield following his senior debut against Crawley Town.
Kamwa starts up front for the U23s, whilst Caprile takes his place in goal. Watch the game live on Twitter! pic.twitter.com/Hm6zVlFyfy
— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 11, 2021
The first chance of the game came to Leeds as Bobby Kamwa held the ball up nicely on the edge of the box before offloading to Summerville coming inside from the right. Summerville then slipped Huggins through on the right channel with a brilliant reverse pass, but Huggins’ shot across goal scuffed the outside of the far post.
The Leeds youngsters did manage to take the lead inside ten minutes as Stuart McKinstry’s corner-kick was met by Charlie Cresswell hanging in mid-air. His header down was pounced upon by Sam Greenwood whose finish from close range snuck past the keeper and into the net.
Sam Greenwood pic.twitter.com/v3QnZSwP5n
— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 11, 2021
Burnley almost got a sniff of goal ten minutes later though despite Leeds’ dominance in the game. Kenneh was robbed of possession just inside his own third, with Charlie Cresswell making a masterful sliding challenge to recover inside the box before Caprile raced out from his line to dive on the remains of Burnley’s first real moment of danger.
The Whites doubled their lead in the next ten-minute cycle, as Liam McCarron’s cross toward the back post was poorly cleared by the Burnley defender, placing the ball straight into the feet of Crysencio Summerville who couldn’t miss in scoring his first goal for the Leeds u23s. And he wasn’t done there...
What. A. Goal. pic.twitter.com/5GtAKI1ssx
— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 11, 2021
Summerville grabbed another as the game approached the 35 minute mark as he capped-off a fabulous move with a double one-two with Stuart McKinstry on the right before Kamwa sent him a dream at the far post. But it didn’t bother the flying Dutchman who slipped the ball through the tight gap between the keeper and the post for 3-0.
He came agonisingly close to a ten-minute hat-trick as McKinstry’s well-weighted pass through from the right with Summerville and the keeper racing toward eachother for the ball, with Summerville’s poked finish coming off the keeper to deny a rapid triple for Summerville.
Bobby Kamwa should’ve grabbed Leeds’ fourth on 49 minutes having stripped the ball from the Burnley centre-half in his own third. He had plenty of room to drive into and picked his spot as he looked to place the ball into the far-left corner, but his finish trickled just wide.
Burnley got one back on 56 minutes with a freak goal from a corner-kick. It’s unclear if the in-swinging ball was touched by one of two Burnley men crowding Caprile, with calls for a foul on the Italian keeper going unacknowledged by the referee despite Caprile being taken-out as the ball crossed the line.
After a massive defensive effort from Leeds throughout the second half, The Whites were rewarded with a fourth and final goal with Crysencio Summerville completing his hat-trick. Leeds broke on the right side as Drameh linked-up with Max Dean on the right-hand side. Dean cut inside and unleashed a whipped strike which was parried by the keeper into the path of Summerville who tapped it home to seal the victory.
Hat-Trick Summerville! pic.twitter.com/qmHYQEo1X0
— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 11, 2021
It should have been an even bigger victory for the Leeds youngsters despite the seismic shift in momentum during the second half. The team were a little rattled by Burnley’s goal but showed their maturity with two 16-year-olds pairing at centre-backs by the full-time whistle.
The Leeds u23s retain their place at the top of The Premier League 2 Division 2 table, thanks to a hat-trick from Crysencio ‘Jimmy’ Summerville and opener Sam Greenwood.