Brentford claimed their first win of the new year with a 3-1 win over Sutton United in the South East Youth Alliance League on Saturday morning.

The young Bees put on a dominant opening half display with goals from a trialist and Iwan Morgan giving the side a deserved lead at the break. A third goal from a Brentford trialist extended the home side’s lead who picked up the victory despite a late goal from Sutton.

Brentford played a back four of Trae Payet, Chanse Headman, Erion Zabeli and Remy Bennison. Adam Poliakov, Beaux Booth and a trialist formed a midfield three, whilst an all Brentford B front three of Isaac Holland, Iwan Morgan and Tony Yogane lead the line.

The home side made a great start to the game and could have been a goal up inside the opening 10 minutes.

Yogane took on his marker on the left flank before coming inside and finding Morgan inside the box, the forward let off a powerful shot, but his strike was well saved by Lenny Jones.

Bennsion and Yogane were linking up well on the left flank with the pair creating an opportunity for a Brentford trialist with another cut back pass, only for the midfielder’s shot to go over the bar.

The hosts got their deserved goal on 12 minutes and it was Bennison again with another cut back pass from the left side of the box, this time the trialist struck the ball perfectly to beat the Sutton keeper and give Brentford a deserved lead.

Headman and Zabeli were solid for the young Bees as the centre backs kept the Sutton forwards to minimal chances in the opening half.

Brentford made it two seven minutes before the interval when Headman got on the end of a set piece, nodding the ball into the direction of Morgan who flicked his shot past the Sutton keeper.

The visitors made a good start to the second half and looked to be playing with more intensity, but the home side’s forward line continued to be a threat.

Despite some good spells of play by Sutton, Brentford got their third and it was a trialist who struck again for the young Bees.

Payet displayed some great work on the right flank before finding the trialist who made another good run into the box before finding the bottom left corner with his shot.

Despite being three goals down, Sutton continued to work hard as they looked for a route back into the game.

The visitors pulled one back just before 70 minutes when Vinnie Tume tapped the ball into an empty net following an initial shot which came off the bar.

Sutton had some good spells of possession as they pushed forwards in numbers, but Brentford showed good levels of concertation as they saw out their lead to get the win.

Brentford U18s: Tavaziva, Payet (Klimas, 59’), Bennison (Taylor, 70’), Zabeli, Headman, Holland, Trialist (Peters, 84), Morgan, Booth, Poliakov (Agyei, 80’), Yogane

Subs not used: Asemokhai

Sutton United U18s: Jones, Marquix, Sullivan, Morre, Eccleston, Urpen, Edwards, Lambourne, Tume, Tricket, Vorster

Subs: Williams, Reeves, Lee, Jameson

Lydia Bedford praises her young side

Brentford U18s head coach Lydia Bedford says she was pleased with how her side implemented the game plan as the young Bees picked up a well earned win.

She said: “Some of the things we asked the lads to do before the game they did really well and that was great to see. We showed great composure to dominate possession and play out from the back but most importantly we won our battles.

“Sutton are a physical side who like to win their second balls and cause problems from set-pieces, but we went toe to toe with them in that aspect which was impressive.

“We knew in the second half they were going to come out fast, I felt we could have done better early on after the break but sometimes you have to ride a little bit of pressure and I felt we did that well.”