U18s: Norwich City 0-7 Aston Villa

Rory Wilson bagged another hat-trick as Aston Villa recorded a stunning 7-0 victory at Norwich City in the Under-18 Premier League South on Saturday.

Fresh from last weekend’s disappointing 7-2 defeat at Fulham, the Young Lions bagged seven of their own as Luka Lynch, Ben Broggio, Jamaldeen Jimoh and Triston Rowe also got on the scoresheet in a dominant win.

Wilson’s treble is his third of the season and takes his tally to 17 goals so far in 2023/24, including 12 in his last six games.

The victory comes just weeks after Villa, now up to third in the table, also triumphed on the road against the Canaries in the U18 Premier League Cup.

Wilson opened the scoring after just seven minutes when he picked up the ball in the left channel, surged towards goal before cutting inside and beating City goalkeeper Henry Bullen at his near post.

It was 2-0 in the 11^th minute when Broggio slid a ball across for Lynch to slot home from close range.

And the Young Lions were in dreamland just six minutes later as Wilson made it 3-0 with a neat 10-yard finish from Rowe’s low cross.

Wilson was somehow denied his hat-trick when he saw two efforts cleared off the goal-line following a superb run down the right by Rowe.

But he completed his treble just minutes before the break as he converted from close range after the hosts failed to clear a corner.

Nile Timson cleared off the line in the second half to help preserve Villa’s clean sheet, before Broggio added a fifth goal in the 64^th minute following an excellent run and finish on the counter-attack.

Jimoh capped a fine display when he got in the scoresheet six minutes from time, tapping home from close range after Bullen had parried substitute Cole Brannigan’s strike.

And Rowe got a deserved goal deep into injury time when he made it 7-0 with a break down the right, chesting down Timson’s long ball, racing forward and applying a smart finish to round off the scoring.