Report – Maalik Hashi and Alex Marciniak score again as Arsenal U21s lose to St Albans

Pre-season friendly

St Albans 5 (Wall 2, Scott 8, Mather 56, Sippetts 82, Perez-Duah 89) Arsenal 2 (Hashi 24, Marciniak 88)

By Jeorge Bird @ Clarence Park

Arsenal U21s fielded a similar squad to the one that drew with Boreham Wood on Saturday and had the same two goalscorers in Maalik Hashi and Alex Marciniak but the outcome of the game was considerably different as they lost 5-2 to St Albans tonight.

This game will ultimately go down as another valuable experience for a group of players that contained many U18s, while the likes of Marcell Washington, Theo Julienne and Alex Marciniak all gave good accounts of themselves.

Max Dowman arrived with the team but wasn’t part of the matchday squad.

The only alteration to the squad saw Jack Porter replace Khari Ranson, with many of the players who started against Boreham Wood named amongst the substitutes here.

Schoolboy Kyran Thompson made his first start at this level while Ceadach O’Neill was deployed as an attacking midfielder.

Nygaard

Hamill-Onyekachukwu-Chapman-Ismail

Murisa

O’Neill-Hashi

Thompson-Oyetunde-Sagoe Jr

Subs: Porter (for Nygaard, 46), King (for Hamill, 46), Clarke (for Onyekachukwu, 46), Ogunnaike (for Chapman, 46), Washington (for Ismail, 46), Julienne (for Murisa, 46), Phillips (for O’Neill, 46), Marciniak (for Hashi, 46), Ferdinand (for Thompson, 46), Zecevic John (for Oyetunde, 46), Bailey-Joseph (for Sagoe Jr, 46).

As was the case against Boreham Wood, Arsenal conceded very early on with Alex Wall opening the scoring for St Albans on this occasion after just two minutes.

With eight minutes gone it was 2-0 as Ryley Scott netted a header as Arsenal goalkeeper Lucas Nygaard struggled.

Arsenal eventually started to impose themselves on the game with Samuel Onyekachukwu playing the ball through to Daniel Oyetunde, who was fouled just outside the box.

O’Neill stepped up to take the subsequent free-kick but his effort went over.

The 17-year-old was involved in the build-up to Arsenal’s first goal of the game as he won possession before finding Hashi, who finished well.

Thompson then cut inside and shot wide, with the winger later having another effort kept out. In between those two attempts he turned provider for Teshaun Murisa, whose effort was closed down.

There were wholesale chances ahead of the second half which included Porter getting his first action of pre-season.

Porter made a good stop early in the second half, with Seb Ferdinand then being denied at the other end.

Marcell Washington showed his ability with some good defending but St Albans were determined to restore their two-goal lead and they did just that, with Jasper Mather scoring with a header from a corner.

Former Arsenal defender James Sweet then entered the fray for St Albans.

Theo Julienne did well to win the ball and then pushed forwards before shooting over.

However, St Albans had clearly identified a weakness with regards to Arsenal’s defending from corners.

On this occasion George Sippetts headed in as he latched onto a delivery from Troy Perez-Duah.

Marciniak continued his excellent start to pre-season as he got a goal back for Arsenal, but a deflected effort from Perez-Duah saw St Albans add a fifth goal.

The scoreline certainly wasn’t ideal but again there were many U18 players involved in this game, with only five full-time members of the U21 squad being called upon.

Matters should improve for the U21s soon as some of their more experienced players will be available again after first-team involvement.

As far as the players on show tonight are concerned there are some interesting prospects, with the likes of Murisa, Julienne and goalscorers Hashi and Marciniak continuing to give good accounts of themselves.