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Pre-season friendly
Boreham Wood 1 (Marshall-Miranda 69) Arsenal 1 (B. Phillips 84)
By Jeorge Bird @ Meadow Park, Borehamwood
A fine goal from Bowen Phillips ensured that Arsenal U21s had something to savour as they commenced their pre-season plans with a 1-1 draw in their traditional friendly against Boreham Wood.
Arsenal gave runouts to numerous players, with Teshaun Murisa impressing in the first half as he filled in at centre-back while Ife Ibrahim gave a good account of himself in midfield.
Maalik Hashi was amongst those to impress after Arsenal made a raft of changes on the hour mark, with first year scholar Hakeem Abubakar performing well and schoolboy Mikael Bonaventure Yetna also featuring.
There were also first appearances at this level for Marley Frohock, Patrick Stachow and new signing Daniel McCarron.
Arsenal named a strong starting lineup but there were some notable absentees including Marli Salmon, Jadon Dixon and Ismeal Kabia. Louie Copley captained the side following his return from loan. Josh Ogunnaike also started after his decision to extend his stay at the club was announced just hours before kick off.
Remy Mitchell warmed up with the team as the third-choice goalkeeper.
David Horseman took charge of the side and remains the favourite to get the U21 head coach job permanently.
Ranson
Julienne-Murisa-Ogunnaike-Washington
Ibrahim-Copley
Agustien
O’Neill-Mooney-Harriman Annous
Subs: Porter (for Ranson, 46), Sampang (for Julienne, 60), McCarron (for Murisa, 60), Stachow (for Ogunnaike, 60), Abubakar (for Washington, 60), Bonaventure Yetna (for Ibrahim, 60), Hashi (for Copley, 60), B. Phillips (for Agustien, 69), Stevens (for O’Neill, 60), Frohock (for Mooney, 60), Zecevic John (for Harriman-Annous, 60).
It was an uneventful start to the game in extremely hot conditions, with Arsenal facing a familiar face in Seb Ferdinand, who is on trial at Boreham Wood.
Theo Julienne, who was deployed at right-back, and Ibrahim both started the game well and eventually Arsenal had their first chance as Demiane Agustien stepped up to take a free-kick, which went wide.
Boreham Wood responded with a couple of efforts of their own but Arsenal then hit the crossbar through Evan Mooney following good work from Andre Harriman-Annous.
Arsenal’s only change ahead of the interval came in goal as Jack Porter replaced Khari Ranson.
Porter was called into action as he made a good save, with Boreham Wood having earlier hit the crossbar in a previous move.
With an hour played Arsenal changed all of their outfielders, with the majority of those coming on still eligible to play at U18 level this season.
Boreham Wood took the lead as Marley Marshall-Miranda made good use of the space that he was afforded.
Abubakar then did well to clear the danger before Arsenal managed to equalise as Frohock found Phillips, who found the net with a superb, emphatic effort.
The game ended 1-1, with Arsenal having played with greater dynamism following the changes.
Arsenal U21s certainly seem to be in a better position than they were this time last year, when there were concerns about the structure of the team and the amount of available players.
There is still a lot to work on but the second half also showed that there could be some exciting players to watch at U18 level this season.