Youth Alliance League leaders Preston North End U19s eased past second-placed Accrington Stanley with an emphatic 5-0 win at Springfields.
Five different names were on the scoresheet as Max Wilson, Ellis Horan, Theo Carroll, Theo Mawene, and Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile all fired home to secure a huge victory for the young Lilywhites.
It took just two minutes for North End to establish their dominance, as Kaedyn Kamara’s header went just wide of the post, and a volley which went over the crossbar from Ethan Eccleston just minutes later proved how set they were on finding an opener.
Before that did arrive, though, defender Tom Wilkinson was called into action in the 15th minute, coming up with a great block to deny an attack from the visitors.
North End thought they’d found their first goal in the 24th minute, as Carroll jumped up to strike the ball into the net but collided with the ‘keeper along the way, resulting in the decision of a foul from the referee.
But the deadlock was eventually broken four minutes later when Wilson’s shot down the centre of goal beat the Accrington ‘keeper and hit the back of the net.
Eager for more, just 11 minutes later it was Horan’s turn, as the midfielder struck well from the edge of the box into the bottom right corner of goal.
It was more of the same in the second half as the Lilywhites started on the front foot, and they made it three just shy of the hour mark. Cole McGhee’s precise pass set Carroll up to confidently find the bottom corner.
The home side were boosted on the hour as a Stanley defender was shown a second yellow following a late tackle on Max Wilson.
Three substitutions in ten minutes for PNE provided fresh legs for the leaders; one of which being Mawene who utilised his power to take the ball off Accrington and calmly slot home in the 76th minute.
With the final whistle approaching, Rodriguez-Gentile added to the scoring as he tapped home a loose ball following a block from the Accrington ‘keeper.
The 5-0 win for the Lilywhites strengthened their position at the top of the table, as the gap between themselves as Stanley stretched to ten points.
Speaking after the game, coach Andy Fensome was pleased with the performance, as well as a well deserved clean sheet for Li-Bau Stowell.
Fenners said: “I think it was a really good team performance mixed in with some outstanding individual performances.
“Over the last two or three weeks we’ve had a bit of a go at the players about dropping standards and I think today we came back to play in the way we like to play.
“I think any win is important and I think the performance is massive today. They passed the ball, we scored goals at the right times, and we took our chances.
“I think it’s great for Li-Bau too. In the last few weeks we haven’t kept a clean sheet and that’s probably cost us points, so today not to concede was really good for Li-Bau obviously and all the defending players. I thought we were excellent.”
Goalscorer Carroll added: “The lads are really happy with the result. We scored lots of goals, we took our chances really well, and everyone’s really happy.
“I haven’t scored for a bit for the U19s so it was good to get a good chance and score past the ‘keeper. It definitely boosts my confidence. I’m looking forward to the next game and hopefully I can have another good one.”
PNE U19 line-up: Stowell, Blake, Brindle, Stringfellow (T.Mawene, 63), Wilkinson, McGhee, Eccleston, Kamara, Carroll (Rodriguez-Gentile, 63), Horan (Goldsmith, 74), Wilson. Subs not used: Garrigan, Gairns.