U18s: Crystal Palace 4-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa fell to back-to-back defeats for the first time this season on Saturday morning, losing 4-1 at Crystal Palace in the Under-18 Premier League. 

An early strike from Sebastian Williams gave Palace the upper hand inside the opening four minutes, as a further two goals within 11 minutes of the start of the second period - from Ben Casey and Jerome Osei - put the hosts firmly in the driving seat at the Crystal Palace Training Ground. 

Max Lott came off the bench to net a stunner for the Villans, but the game would end on a sour note for Jimmy Shan's Young Lions, as Donte Martin made sure of the three points for the South London outfit, before Woody Burgess was dismissed for Villa in stoppage time, having picked up a second yellow card. 

It was a difficult start to proceedings for Villa, who were behind inside the opening four minutes. Joel Drakes-Thomas did well to dart forward and into the area, pulling back across for Williams to make no mistake in finishing past Sam Proctor. 

Despite falling behind, the Villans took control of much of the early stages, keeping the ball well and looking for a way back into the game, as Jack McGrath tested Marcus Hill in the Palace goal with the visitors' first real attack. 

But Palace and Williams were a constant threat on the attack. Next, his 20-yard effort would be held by Proctor, before he had the ball in the net a second time 10 minutes before the break, but it was ruled out for a handball in the build-up. 

Villa saw a lot of the ball in the opening period, though proved unable to break down a resolute Palace outfit. They were to be denied within a minute of the restart, too, as Hill got down brilliantly to keep out Max Jennner's low, curling effort. 

But the hosts would quickly find another gear after the break, and doubled their advantage just a minute later, Jacob Fasida finding Casey over the top, and the forward making no mistake when one on one with Proctor. 

Things went from bad to worse for Shan's charges nine minutes later, as Jerome Osei added a third, heading home from close range after more good work from Drakes-Thomas to dart to the byline and cross. 

Villa did fight back to get themselves on the scoresheet, as Max Lott climbed off the bench to curl a neat effort beyond Hill from the edge of the box to reduce the arrears 22 minutes from time. 

But any signs of a monumental comeback were erased with five minutes to go, as Drakes-Thomas again drove through the Villa defence and squared for Martin, who had the simple job of tapping home to add a fourth. 

More late drama followed to compound a miserable day for the Young Lions, as captain Burgess was shown a second yellow card, meaning Villa would end the game with 10 players. 

Defeat saw them relinquish top stop in the Under-18 Premier League South division to their hosts, who are three points ahead having played five matches more.