Young Blues ease to comfortable to league win
Pompey Academy continued their impressive start to the season with a 4-1 victory over Exeter at Furze Lane.
After a goalless first half, they took the lead when Tommy Scutt headed home a cross from Brandon Joseph-Buadi.
Ben Seymour levelled for the visitors, but the Blues were soon back in front, as Liam Sayers (above) took advantage of a goalkeeping error to score.
It was Sayers who then extended the advantage further, collecting a pass from Kaleem Haitham and coolly beating Grecians keeper Kavanagh Keadell.
And substitute Sam Woodward completed a comfortable win when he reacted quickest after Theo Widdrington’s shot had been parried clear.
Academy coach Mikey Harris said: “Exeter probably had the better of the first half in terms of possession.
“They controlled the game in the middle of the pitch and it took us time to get to grips with their shape.
“The break gave us an opportunity to regroup and speak about how we could improve and hurt our opponents.
“Tommy showed great desire to get into the box and head us into the lead, but I was disappointed with their equaliser after we gave away an unnecessary free-kick on the edge of the box.
“It was a carbon copy of one we conceded at Newport the previous week and that’s an important learning curve for the lads.
“We had gone through analysis of that goal on the Friday to work out how we should defend in those situations – and we made the same mistakes again.
“But we responded well and Liam put us back in front. He led the line tirelessly and puts a lot of pressure on himself to score, so that would have lifted a weight off his shoulders.
“He played with more freedom after that and got another, while Sam deserved his goal, which was not dissimilar to the one Matt Tubbs scored for the first team at Luton
“I was really pleased with our work-rate and desire. The boys put into practice what we asked from them and now we’re looking for them to keep improving.”
Pompey: Bass (Hall 74); Haitham, Saidy, Yates, McDowell; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Widdrington; Scutt, Bedford, Joseph-Buadi (Tumber 63); Sayers (Woodward 70)