U21 Report: Saints 3-1 Anderlecht

A first half brace from Baylee Dipepa, including a penalty, gave Saints a 2-0 lead at half time, and Sam Amo-Ameyaw netted a third just after the hour mark to give Matt Etherington’s side a comfortable cushion.

Anderlecht did find the net late on through Terry Van De Ven, but Saints held on for a deserved win make it two wins from four fixtures against European opposition this season.

Saints started brightly and saw a couple of promising early attacks thwarted by Anderlecht, but the visitors produced the first shot on target of the contest.

Van De Ven found the space to strike goalwards in the Saints area, but his effort proved to be easy for Adli Mohamed to deal with.

Jay Robinson was next to try his luck at breaking the deadlock when he received the ball inside the Anderlecht box and attempted to fire into the bottom corner with his second touch, but he could only drag his shot wide.

Saints were having some joy down the left and, after Mohamed had produced an excellent save to deny Devon De Corte at the other end of the pitch, more positive play from Robinson created an ideal opportunity for the opening goal.

The winger was taken down in the area by an Anderlecht challenge and this gave Saints a penalty that was duly converted expertly by Baylee Dipepa – the No. 9 firing low into the left corner of the net.

Dipepa opened the scoring en route to a first half brace (Photos: Craig Hobbs)

Dipepa appeared to gain confidence from the opener and almost made it 2-0 shortly afterwards, when his driving run ended with a powerful strike at goal that required a strong palm away by goalkeeper Michiel Haentjens.

However, the striker wasn’t to be denied his second for long and doubled the lead on 44 minutes when a corner was nodded by Joachim Kayi Sanda, giving Dipepa the simple task of tucking home into the near corner.

Into the second half, Anderlecht searched for a way back into the game early on and went close when a break forward saw Jayden Onia Seke set up Van De Ven, but the striker’s shot flew over the bar and out for a goal kick.

There was no doubting that Saints were in control of proceedings though, and they could have made sure of their win with two quickfire chances 10 minutes into the second period; both Derrick Abu and Cameron Bragg shot over from good opportunities.

The pressure from the hosts continued though and a third goal arrived when the lively Amo-Ameyaw pushed across the edge of the box and curled home a delightful strike into the top corner, whhich gave Michiel Haentjens no chance in the Anderlecht goal.

A late rally from the away side saw them get a goal back after when pressure caught Saints on the ball close to their goal and allowed Van De Ven space to slot home a calm finish.

Late chances for Princewill Ehibhatiomhan and Moses Sesay saw Saints go close to adding to their lead, but 3–1 was how it ended on the final whistle.

Saints are back in action again on Friday 24th January when they travel to face Chelsea in Premier League 2, with kick off at Kingsmeadow set for 7pm.

Saints: Mohamed, Abu, Payne, Moore (Tabares 87), Kayi Sanda, Bragg, Robinson (Charles 87), Akachukwu (Fry 71), Dipepa (Ehibhatiomhan 71), Amo-Ameyaw (MacLeod 71), Sesay.

Subs not used: McNamara, Myers.

Goals: Dipepa 28 (pen), 44, Amo-Ameyaw 61.

Yellow Cards: Moore, Bragg.

Anderlecht: Haentjens, Mahroug, Kana, Onia Seke (Bourard 74), Barry (Bethune 63), Sarki, Flies (Benktib 74), Wola (Milisic 45), De Cat (De Ridder 63), Van De Ven, De Corte.

Subs not used: Seghers, Ede Eriyo.

Goals: Van De Ven 75.

Yellow Cards: De Cat, De Ridder.