Brentford’s Under-18 side got their pre-season campaign under way on Saturday morning as they headed to the south coast to face Portsmouth Under-18s.

It was a chance for Lydia Bedford to take charge of her first game as under-18 head coach in a match which Portsmouth edged 2-1. The Bees, who played a different line-up in each half, got their first game minutes with 10 of their summer acquisitions starting the match whilst a series of trialists were given game time in the second period.

An entertaining encounter saw the home side go ahead after nine minutes as one of the Pompey strikers managed to ride a challenge and dink the ball home with composure before the south coast side doubled their advantage shortly after the break with a powerful drive into the far corner off the right-hand post.

One of the Brentford trialists got the Bees’ only goal late on when he latched onto a long ball forward from the goalkeeper before he finished well despite the onrushing Portsmouth shot stopper.

Remy-Lee Bennison in action for the young side

The match was the first chance the side had to play together in a match environment after they recently began pre-season training. Chances fell for the young side in each half with Remy-Lee Bennison seeing his early effort well saved before the Bees almost netted in the second half when they threatened more than once from set pieces with the aerial presence of Gregory Asemokhai causing Pompey plenty of problems in defence.

Positives to take for Bedford

Having seen her side go toe-to-toe with Portsmouth, Bedford says she’s seen some good signs from the players as they start to build their match sharpness.

She explained: “Going into the game we made sure that no player played more than 45 minutes. We wanted to see, from a learning perspective, whether they could take some of the things that we’ve drip fed to them in training this week into the game.

“We set them four targets, two in possession and two out, and I’m really pleased come the end of the game to see their ability to have a go at trying those things as well as adapt to what was in front of them. Portsmouth are a really organised, intense, team and tried to press us high in a 4-4-2 diamond.”

With many new players in the group the side are very much getting to know each other on and off the pitch as they prepare themselves for a season in the South East Youth Alliance league which begins next month. Bedford says the side will steadily build on their understanding of each other and she’s looking forward to seeing further development in the coming weeks and months.

“We could see movements into the right pockets but maybe someone didn’t recognise the movement and release the pass in time, or there was the right support but the technical quality might have let them down in that moment,” said Bedford. “The more they get to know each other the more they will recognise what they’re capable of doing.

“The players have been really receptive and are working hard to put things into practice that we’re asking of them. To see the progress they’ve already made makes me proud.”

Brentford under-18s first half: Wolfheimer, Halil, Shield, Djoro, Peters, Francis, Taylor, Bennison, Grey, Agyei, Samuels

Brentford under-18s second half: Trialist, Ivanov, Asemokhai, King, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist