The last two weeks have been really busy for me as we’ve had loads of games along with the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup.
FA Youth Cup, Second Leg: Newcastle United v Aston Villa
We were gutted to bow out of the semi final to Aston Villa losing the second leg by a goal to nil at home.
I’m convinced we could and should have won after giving ourselves an unassailable lead before coming to St James’ for the 2nd leg.
That said it would be unfair to not give Villa the credit they deserve, they battled well at Villa Park when we were on top and showed great resilience to come up and really nullify our threat and book their place in the final.
They have shown themselves to be a good side and I wish them all the best for the Final where they will come up against Chelsea.
The match at St James’ possibly will go down for many lads here as their biggest disappointment of the season. It was all set up for us, 5000 people were at the ground to support us on the night, the pitch was in fantastic nick and the weather was great!
We played some good football but couldn’t take the chances we created and Villa did what all good teams do, soaked it up and then hit back.
I got on midway through the second half and made a goal line clearance as they threatened to go 2-0 up with us chasing the game, but in the end a solitary strike on the night was enough to see us out of the competition that many of us thought we could’ve won.
We were in on the Sunday after the game and everyone was still down, the atmosphere was flat in and around the Club, well certainly in the Academy, but we had to pick ourselves up for the game against Bolton Wanderers.
Academy Match: Newcastle United v Bolton Wanderers
And so we did, we played them the next Wednesday and set about them from the start and got an early lead through Dan Taylor. Our second followed shortly after and when Sammy scored from a fine solo effort the game was sealed.
They got a consolation goal towards the end of the game but I think the result was more than merited on the day.
We got Thursday off, but we were in on Friday for preparation for the game against Everton. They are currently near the top of Academy Group C so it had the potential to be a good test for us.
Academy Match: Everton v Newcastle United
It was no surprise that they played like their first team. They were physical, technically good and broke quick on the counter. They got the lead early in the second half and that was the only goal of the game.
We pushed for an equaliser but their keeper made a great save to deny Conor ten minutes from time. We played some good football but again just lacked a cutting edge in the final third which saw us fall to a defeat for the 2nd time in ten days.
