U18s: Crystal Palace 3-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa’s run in the Under-18 Premier League Cup ended with a 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The hosts raced into an early lead inside the first minute and established a 3-0 advantage before the break.

Chisom Afoka reduced the arrears prior to half-time to give the Young Lions hope, but they were unable to force a turnaround after the restart.

Villa exited the competition in the group stages having previously lost to Manchester City and Liverpool.

They will be looking to bounce back at home to midlands rivals Birmingham City in Premier League 2 next Monday.

Villa were behind with little over 30 seconds on the clock as the Eagles scored with their first attack, winning possession in a dangerous area and Victor Akinwale slotting home from six yards.

Oliwier Zych saved well from Akinwale shortly afterwards after he broke clean through, but there was nothing the Villa goalkeeper could do to prevent Ademola Ola-Adebomi converting from close range in the 17^th minute.

Zych collected a long-range effort from Ola-Adebomi but the Palace frontman showed impressive skill to burst through Villa’s defence and drill home his second goal of the game in the 38^th minute.

Tommi O’Reilly saw a dinked finish cleared off the line before Afoka made it 3-1, converting Dewain Sewell’s assist from Kahrel Reddin’s low cross.

Reddin was thwarted by Owen Goodman before the Palace stopper stood firm to keep out a long-range drive from Teddy Rowe after the break.

As sweeping Villa move saw Reddin denied by another goal-line clearance from the hosts as the Young Lions pressed hard but could not find a route back into the encounter.