Arsenal’s u18s managed to secure a draw in bizarre circumstances away to Brighton, ahead of the senior sides’ match-up on Sunday.

The youngsters were taking on the Seagulls at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre in the 11:30am kick off on Saturday. What seemed like a relatively disappointing game, heading for a scoreless draw suddenly came to life in 10 minutes of madness at the end.

Neither side had managed to make a breakthrough for much of the match, but in the 84th minute Brighton, finally took the lead through a goal from 16-year-old midfielder, Danny Cashman. Just a minute or so later, Arsenal managed to get on the scoresheet as well, with James Olayinka equalising from a Josh Benson assist.

That, apparently, wasn’t enough drama for the end of the game, as Icelandic centre-forward, Stefan Alexander Ljubicic, put Brighton back into the lead three minutes into injury time. Just when it looked like he’d won the points for the Seagulls, he then took them away, scoring an own goal to make it 2-2.

The match was a relatively good representation of the ups and downs of the u18s’ season so far, with matches like against Manchester United where Arsenal threw away a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 followed up by dominant 4-0 wins just a week later. The Gunners certainly aren’t having any trouble finding the net right now, they just need to keep the clean sheets coming a little more regularly.

Line up: Virginia; Daley-Campbell, Clarke, Omole, Thompson; Benson, M. Smith; Olayinka, John-Jules, Saka; Balogun.

Subs: T. Smith, Medley (on for Thompson), Swanson, Spencer-Adams, Okoflex (on for John-Jules).