The Hatters youth team won the EFL Youth Alliance southern area cup final by beating Oxford United 7-6 on penalties at Grenoble Road after fighting back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in 90 minutes today.
Inigo Idiakez’s Under-18s had gone close in an entertaining but goalless first half, with Connor Tomlinson and Jake Peck – with an audacious 40-yard chip – both denied by home goalkeeper Max Harris in an open 45 minutes.
But they were two down by the hour mark to goals from Dejon Noel-Williams and Albie Hopkin, before Josh Neufville halved the deficit in the 64th minute with a shot that beat Harris and nestled inside the far post.
The Hatters kept plugging away and Joe Mead headed in from a 90th-minute corner to equalise and send the tie into the penalty shoot-out, with all the penalties converted until Tiernan Parker saved Oxford captain Matt Berry Hargreaves’ effort to book a national final spot against Wigan Athletic, who beat Hartlepool United 5-0 in the northern area final.
Well done boys!
*Thanks to Oxford United for kindly supplying pictures