Brentford U17 4 Bolton Wanderers U17 0: Nwosu brace as young Bees lift PDL Shield
Brentford U17 4 Bolton Wanderers U17 0: Nwosu brace as young Bees lift PDL Shield Brentford Under-17s lifted the Under-17 Professional Development League Shield this evening as they cruised to a 4-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers Under-17s at Wheatsheaf Park. It was a dominant first-half display which saw Jai Nwosu score a brace and Josh Oladapo-Gamu get on the scoresheet, before Jai Bansoodeb scored the pick of the bunch in the second half to wrap up the final win. Bolton had the first chance of the evening when wing-back Alfie Healy arrived late at the back stick to draw a good save from Layton Nicholls with bodies in his line of sight.
On nine minutes the young Bees had their first sight of goal. Coran Madden weaved his way into the box after superb distribution from Nicholls and powerful hold up play from Nwosu. The winger looked to have been brought down as he went to strike the ball but the referee waved away the red and white appeals.
As the ball was recycled, Reuben Lawal whipped in an excellent delivery which Nwosu glanced goalbound on the stretch but James Shillingham held on well in the Bolton net. The west Londoners began to turn the screw; on 11 minutes they were only denied by a brilliant goal line clearance after Dylan Danso's header across goal was flicked on by Jovan Kasujja, but Joe Lamb instinctively lifted the ball away as it looked destined to hit the back of the net. Then, on 19 minutes, they broke the deadlock.
Madden drove down the left wing and crossed perfectly to Nwosu who tapped home from inside the six-yard box to give the young Bees the lead. Bolton went down the other end and had a great chance to level almost immediately but Dan Ogboru couldn't sort his feet out and didn't challenge Nicholls from close range. Nwosu then hit the angle of post and crossbar with a header seconds later as the game really opened up.
Nwosu had another chance on 25 minutes after he was slid into the box following clever combination play between Bansoodeb and Madden, but the striker pulled the ball just wide of the post with his left-footed strike. The west Londoners did double their lead on the half hour mark when centre-back Oladapo-Gamu found space in the crowd from Bansoodeb's dangerous in-swinging corner to nod home into the empty net and make it 2-0. Five minutes later, Nicholls made a huge save to keep the two-goal lead in tact, smothering Oliver Best's volleyed effort from close range.