Our under-21s were beaten 3-1 by Cardiff City on Tuesday night, bringing our Vertu Trophy campaign to an end.
Marcel Washington gave us an early lead with a fine strike from the edge of the penalty area, before Troy Perrett equalised from close range just two minutes later.
After an even opening hour at the Cardiff City Stadium, Alexei Rojas was shown a red card. The Bluebirds made use of their man advantage, and won the game through Will Spiers and Trey George goals in the second half.
WHAT HAPPENED
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The first opportunity of the game came in the opening minute when Charles Sagoe Jr latched onto a cross at the far post and saw his effort deflected out for a corner.
Sagoe Jr was involved in the opening goal 15 minutes later, picking out Marcel Washington who rifled the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area.
The hosts wasted no time in hitting back though, Troy Perrett evading Sam Onyekachukwu to convert the equaliser with the first attack after the restart.
Midway through the half, Sagoe Jr came close with a spectacular effort, curling the ball just wide of the post with his back to goal outside the penalty area.
Cardiff made a strong start to the second half and almost had the lead three minutes after the break when Will Spiers struck the crossbar at the end of a well-worked set-piece routine.
The evening then took a turn for the worse for us when Alexei Rojas came out to close down a loose back pass and brought a Cardiff City attacker down, resulting in a red card for our goalkeeper.
Moments after the red card, Perrett almost had a second with a low shot towards the bottom corner, but was denied by a last-ditch block from Ife Ibrahim.
Cardiff took the lead midway through the second half when Will Spiers' cross took a deflection and wrong-footed substitute goalkeeper Remy Mitchell.
Despite being a man down, we had an excellent opportunity to equalise when Brando Bailey-Joseph made a brilliant run and set up Sagoe Jr, but the winger miscued his effort from 12 yards.
While we pushed for an equaliser, the Bluebirds caught us on the break and secured the points with a late goal from Trey George.
WHAT’S NEXT
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Our under-21s now begin their winter break, with the Premier League 2 on hiatus until 2026.
After the international break, several of our under-21s players will be involved in our UEFA Youth League clash with Bayern Munich on Wednesday, November 26.
LINE-UPS
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**Cardiff City:** Turner, Keita, Perrett (Watts, 88'), Spiers, Kingdon, Parfitt (Davies, 55'), Apter, Debono, Twose, George, Ola (Pearce, 46', Sykes, 80')
**Subs:** Dennis, Hobson, Hilaire-Clarke
**Arsenal:** Rojas, King, Onyekachukwu (Stevens, 86') Sweet, Washington (Ogunnaike, 72'), Ibrahim (Julienne, 72'), Dudziak (Mitchell, 62'), Copley, Kamara (Bailey-Joseph, 62'), Harriman-Annous, Sagoe Jr
**Subs:** Nichols, Owusu-Gyasi
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