A Layton Stewart hat-trick and Oakley Cannonier brace saw Liverpool Under 21’s extend their unbeaten Premier League 2 streak to seven games with a sensational 5-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
While the hosts were dominant in terms of possession and chance creation, it wasn’t until the second half that they came into their own, with four goals coming after the interval.
Stewart put his side ahead in the 40th minute with a poachers finish and would double his tally 24 minutes into the second half with another effort from inside the penalty area. The striker completed his hat-trick five minutes later with a sumptuous lobbed effort from 30 yards out.
Cannonier scored 10 minutes later with a fantastic strike from the edge of the area before adding his second from close range iwth two minutes to go.
A dominant performance
Unsurprisingly, it was the hosts who started the game the stronger of the two sides.
Mateusz Musialowski was played clean through on goal within the opening 10 minutes but Wolves defender Kamran Kandoola made a brilliant intervention on the goal-line after the chipped effort looked to have beaten the keeper.
It soon became clear that Wolves’ game plan was to play down the right-hand side. The Midlands club appeared to be trying to give the ball to Harry Birthwhistle and Tyler Roberts at every available opportunity.
But for all of the visitor’s industry down the wing, they had little to show for it in terms of chances and struggled to test Fabian Mrozek in the Reds goal.
Liverpool’s dominance grew towards half-time with the visitors content sitting behind the ball, inviting the hosts to command possession and push for the first goal.
The home side’s pressure finally paid off just five minutes before the break when Stewart broke the deadlock.
The striker was fed the ball from Jake Cain in the penalty area and made no mistake with the chance, slotting the ball into the bottom right corner with a composed finish.
The home side seemed to take the momentum of the first goal into the second half, piling even more pressure onto their opponents.
Intelligent Play
And The Reds’ pressure would pay off in the 69th minute when Stewart found himself unmarked in the box once again. The striker lashed home his second of the game with a lovely half-volleyed effort into Andreas Sondergaard’s bottom left corner.
It seemed as if this goal acted as a trigger for the home team, with the game exploding into life.
While Stewart’s first two goals were rudimentary in nature, his third was far from it. The forward was gifted the ball a good distance outside of the Wolves box and intelligently spotted that Sondergaard had ventured a few yards off his line, allowing him to lob the keeper in truly remarkable fashion with an inch-perfect effort from around 30 yards out.
Not wanting to be outdone by Stewart, the newly introduced Cannonier would then score a wonder goal himself.
The substitute received the ball around 20 yards from goal and would curl a ferocious effort into the right corner, leaving a hapless Sondergaard with no chance.
Cannonier then doubled his tally soon after, albeit in less outstanding fashion. The goal came after Bobby Clark did incredibly well to keep the ball alive in the box when it looked to have crossed the line, before cutting it back to the striker who tapped in.
The forward came close to bagging his hat-trick in what proved to be the last action of the game when he was slid through by debutant Ben Doak on the counter. However, the striker was unable to beat the Wolves keeper who did well to parry his effort out of harm’s way.
The emphatic win sees Liverpool’s starlets rise to fourth in the table, with Merseyside rivals Everton up next for the Reds in the league.
