U18s: Crystal Palace 6-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace in the Under-18 Premier League on Saturday.

The Young Lions trailed by a single goal at half-time, heading back to the changing rooms 2-1 down after Kobei Moore’s penalty reduced arrears following a brace from Eagles striker Victor Akinwale.

But the hosts ran away with the game in the second half, with Jadan Raymond, David Ozoh and Ademola Ola-Adebomi scoring and Akinwale completing his hat-trick.

Defeat leaves Villa 11^th in the table with five games left to play.

Spirits were high following a 2-0 success against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, but events in south London got off to a bad start with the hosts hitting the front after just 12 minutes.

Goalkeeper Laurence Shala went route one and after the ball was allowed to bounce, Akinwale lobbed the advancing Sam Lewis to give Palace the lead.

After 24 minutes, the forward was brought down in the box and doubled his tally from the penalty spot, sending Lewis the wrong way.

Villa struggled to find their feet in attack, but they were handed the opportunity to pull one back when Moore was bundled over in the area.

The striker rolled the ball down the middle of the goal to ignite hopes of a comeback.

Those hopes were extinguished seven minutes after the restart when Raymond’s cross was deflected back to him and he tapped home from close range.

It was the first of three goals in ten minutes that took the tie away from Villa, with Akinwale next to tap home before Ozoh fired in a fifth.

Ola-Adebomi completed the scoring with five minutes to play, breaking away behind the defence and slotting the ball past Lewis.

Villa now turn their attentions to a home tie against Reading at Bodymoor Heath on Saturday.