The Arsenal u18s suffered a shock exit from the FA Youth Cup at the hands of Colchester United on Friday night, despite naming a strong side.

Jack Henry-Francis playing for the Arsenal u18s (Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter)
Jack Henry-Francis playing for the Arsenal u18s (Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter)

As usual in the FA Youth Cup, Arsenal dropped some of their eligible u23 players down to feature in the u18 competition.

The likes of Omari Hutchinson and Charlie Patino have been u23 regulars this season, but they still fit within the age regulations for u18 football, and they both started the match.

It wasn’t quite a full-strength Arsenal side, with the notable omission of Marcelo Flores in forward areas – due to his Mexico senior call-up.

The Gunners were also missing Zane Monlouis, who would have brought some much-needed experience to the defence.

All the same, it was a good team that should have been more than capable of winning against Colchester United.

First half

Charlie Patino playing for the Arsenal u18s (Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter)
Charlie Patino playing for the Arsenal u18s (Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter)

For just over 40 minutes, Arsenal totally dominated the clash. Jack Henry-Francis had a deflected effort well saved in the early moments, then it became the Brooke Norton-Cuffy and Omari Hutchinson show for a while.

The two had the beating of their men almost every time on the right-hand side, but they couldn’t quite find the finish. The Colchester keeper was also in good form and made some strong saves.

Colchester hardly had a touch of the ball, and they weren’t creating anything as a team, but they had one big threat in the form of striker Samson Tovide.

Arsenal had multiple warnings of the danger Tovide provided, as he caught Taylor Foran and Reuell Walters (who otherwise had a good game) in possession on multiple occasions leading to decent chances.

Yet they didn’t learn from their mistakes, and just before half-time Tovide was brought down by Zach Awe for a penalty. Colchester captain Ryan Lowe converted for 1-0.

This brief summary doesn’t do justice to the number of chances Arsenal had in the first half. It was an onslaught, but a very wasteful one that left them trailing at the break.

Second half

Brooke Norton-Cuffy playing for the Arsenal u18s (Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter)
Brooke Norton-Cuffy playing for the Arsenal u18s (Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter)

Arsenal needed a reaction, but it was Colchester that came out faster after the break. They should have scored after Remy Mitchell spilled a cross in the box, but were fortunate to see the shot go wide of a mostly empty net.

The young Gunners weren’t so lucky with the refereeing on the night.

Perhaps influenced by the home crowd, the referee ignored countless fouls, and notably turned down a similar penalty claim from Hutchinson to the one Tovide won in the first half.

Later in the half, the referee waved away a stonewall penalty on Amario Cozier-Duberry, with even the home fans sitting around me in agreement that it should have been given.

But the ref’s most bizarre decision was to stop play at one stage to give a drop ball. Not a free-kick, an uncontested drop ball. Did he incorrectly believe there was a player injured, perhaps? We’ll never know.

None of that would have mattered if Arsenal took one or two of their many chances before the final 10 minutes, so it’s really only an excuse for not making their dominance count.

Inevitably, Colchester’s Tovide popped up with a second goal in the final minutes, heading in a free-kick that should have been claimed.

Ironically, Arsenal then had two of their best chances of the entire match, with substitute Amani Richards and Henry-Francis lifting close-range efforts well over the crossbar. On another day, it could easily have been 2-2.

Instead, it was 3-0, as Kaan Bennett hit Arsenal on the counter in injury-time. There was just time for Charles Sagoe Jr to see a late consolation effort narrowly deflected wide by the goalkeeper, but that was how it ended.

Final thoughts

Dan Micciche speaks to some of the Arsenal u18s (Photo by Dan Critchlow)
Dan Micciche speaks to some of the Arsenal u18s (Photo by Dan Critchlow)

This was obviously a hugely disappointing night for an Arsenal side with a lot of talented players. Most of this team won’t be available for the FA Youth Cup next season, so this was their last chance, and they lost it in the first game.

Patino’s game was admittedly handicapped by the refereeing, as his style of playing right on the edge and winning free-kicks doesn’t work so well when so few of them are awarded.

But it was a shame not to see Hutchinson and Norton-Cuffy make more of the fact they were so dominant in the one-on-one situations on the right-hand side.

In the same vein, when Colchester eventually realised they needed to double up on the Arsenal duo, there was a missed opportunity for the rest of the team to take advantage of the extra space that was created.

The Arsenal u18s came to Colchester and won 5-1 in 2018, including goals from Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka, and Folarin Balogun. This was a long way off that display.

Arsenal u18 lineup vs Colchester United

Mitchell, Norton-Cuffy, Foran, Awe, Walters, Cozier-Duberry, Patino, Henry-Francis, Bandeira, Hutchinson, Edwards

Substitutes

Kovacevic, Robinson, Jeffcott (for Awe, 60), Ibrahim, Sagoe Jr (for Foran, 85), Gaspar, Richards (for Bandeira, 65)

What’s next?

The u23 players like Hutchinson and Patino are unlikely to play much of a part in Sunday’s game against Southampton at 19:00 (times in GMT), but that’s their next fixture.

After that, it’s the u23 North London derby at Meadow Park on Friday, December 17th at 19:00.

As for the u18s, they play their final game of the year away to Fulham on Saturday, December 18th at 11:00. Then both academy sides get a winter break.