Match Recap: West Bromwich Albion u23s 0-5 Leeds United u23s

The Leeds United under-23s thrashed West Bromwich Albion u23s 5-0 away from home with stellar performances from Gelhardt, Greenwood and Summerville leading the way to all three points.

The Whites lined-up with several seniors players in the starting team, with Gaetano Berardi, Robin Koch and Leif Davis are looking to continue their return to fitness while the seniors are on the international break. Jamie Shackleton and Ian Poveda are also looking to push for more minutes in the senior team as are the attacking starlets Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood and Crysencio Summerville.

Two defensive regulars in Charlie Cresswell and PL2 Player of the Month nominee Cody Drameh started on the bench alongside Liam McCarron, Bobby Kamwa and Danny Van den Heuvel.

In a stop-start opening ten minutes, Leeds started well. First coming close from a free-kick coming into the box from a long way out, with Leif Davis flicking the ball on and forcing the keeper into making a save. A few minutes later, Berardi played a peach of a ball over the top to Davis on the left channel. His cut-back to Jenkins wasn’t quite right timing-wise with Jenkins eventual shot at goal being blocked in the six-yard box.

Crysencio Summerville then won a penalty-kick on 17 minutes as he managed to sneak in the way of a defender chasing a loose pass by Gelhardt into the left channel. He used his body well and went down under the challenge and the referee quickly pointed to the spot.

Joe Gelhardt took the penalty, dummied his run-up and sent the keeper the wrong way as his left-footed strike sent the ball into the bottom-right corner of the net.

Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus

After a few decent opportunities and attacks, The Whites doubled their lead in the 39th minute as Crysencio Summerville picked up a loose ball on the left side of the box, 18-yards from goal. He drove forward into the channel before laying the ball off to Gelhardt who was overlapping to Summerville’s left. Gelhardt’s first-time finish slipped past the keeper and into the bottom right corner for 2-0.

Summerville almost went from provider to scorer as the first-half drew to a close, with Joe Gelhardt dribbling out of his own penalty area and beating two West Brom players to start the move. He passed it to Poveda who played a brilliant long pass across to Summerville on the left. He took in in his stride, cut inside and fired just wide.

Into the second half and Leeds won another penalty in the 52nd minute following a lovely one-two between Joe Gelhardt and Jack Jenkins on the edge of the box. Gelhardt drove toward the penalty spot before being wrestled to the ground and the referee awarded yet another spot-kick.

Gelhardt took the kick, he went the same way and it was the same result despite the keeper guessing the right way, as Joe Gelhart completed his hat-trick while The Baggies were reduced ti ten-men as Harmon received a second yellow for his challenge on Gelhardt.

Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images

The fourth goal arrived on 70 minutes and in great style too. Ian Poveda came up to the corner of the box on the right side before cutting inside and playing a lovely reverse pass through to Summerville who finished well from close range as the flying Dutchman added a goal to his assist and winning of the first penalty in this game.

Things went from bad to worse for West Brom while it only got better for Leeds United. After so many free-kicks in great positions going wayward for Leeds, it was Sam Greenwood’s turn to try his luck. From 25 yards out in a right-of-centre position, Greenwood looped a powerful strike across the keeper and in off the far post in what was a stellar strike that no goalkeeper could have possibly saved.

The Leeds youth could’ve and should’ve scored even more goals with Greenwood, McCarron and Davis having decent chances come to them but were unable to finish. But in the end, this battering of WBA puts Leeds 13 points clear at the top of The PL2 Division 2 table in yet another wonderful performance from the young Whites.