Young Violets give Arsenal's U21s no chance

The young Violets showed their London counterparts who's boss, beating the young Gunners 4-1 and successfully completing their dress rehearsal for the league opener against St. Pölten. Konsti Aleksa, Marijan Österreicher and an own goal from the visitors put the Violets on the road to victory before half-time. After the break, substitute Marcel Stöger sealed the deal. Oyetunde's goal was merely a consolation.

For Saturday's season opener, the Jungveilchen welcomed an unusual opponent to the Generali Arena. The visitors were none other than the U21 team of the mighty FC Arsenal London. For Max Uhlig's side, who will embark on their Liga Zwa adventure next weekend, it was the final test match of a promising summer preparation. The match against the young Gunners was not only a real test for the Young Violets, but also set the tone for the season opener against SKN St. Pölten (2 August, 8 p.m., Generali Arena). Returnee Ifeanyi Ndukwe was tasked with marshalling the defence, while Max Uhlig put his faith in Konsti Aleksa and captain Philipp Hosiner up front. 

Violets rule the roost 

The home side controlled the game from the start, applying their usual intense pressing and promptly rewarding themselves with the lead: Ndukwes' long ball found Konsti Aleksa, who raced past Lannin-Sweet and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Porter to give his side the lead (8'). Violets looked much more robust, but above all more coordinated than the young Londoners, whose defence was repeatedly caught out before the break. They hardly made any impact going forward, with the only notable attempt coming in the 30th minute when Jusic was on hand to save a long-range shot from Bailey Joseph. 

3-0 lead at half-time 

When a Marcinak cross failed to find a recipient (32'), the Violets were back in action. The 2-0 came from a simple but impressive piece of teamwork: Marijan Österreicher came down the left, approached the penalty area, and after a one-two with Hosiner suddenly found himself alone in front of Porter and coolly extended the lead (34'). After Mörth narrowly missed the left corner and Hosiner (after a wonderful combination between Nnodim and Mörth) hit only the side netting, the English side scored an own goal shortly before half-time: after a cross from Aleksa, Clarke put the ball into his own net (45'). 

Uhlig rotates 

Even after the break, the game continued to be one-sided: the dazzling Konsti Aleksa powered through a tackle but then shot wide of the goal (46'), while Wojnar (53') and Mörth (55') were both denied by Porter. After an hour, coach Uhlig made some big changes, bringing on five new players. Arsenal seemed to have recovered somewhat from the constant pressure from the Violets, but were unable to mount more than a few counterattacks for the time being.  

The final decision came in the closing stages: Deshishku picked up speed and saw Marcel Stöger in the penalty area, who scored to make it 4-0 (78'). Daniel Oyetunde's goal to make it 1-4 was merely a consolation.

YOUNG VIOLETS – ARSENAL LONDON U21 4:1 (3:0)
Tore: Aleksa (8.), Österreicher (34.), Clarke (45./ET.), Stöger (78.); Oyetunde (86.) 

YOUNG VIOLETS: Jusic (60.Blazevic); Wojnar (60.Ilic), Ndukwe, Fischer (60.Zdichynec); Nnodim (77.Sawicki), Nisandzic (77.Jankovic), Lukic (60.Abdi), Mörth (77.Höller); Österreicher, Aleksa (60.Deshishku), Hosiner © (77.Stöger). 

ARSENAL U21: Porter (59.Mitchell); Ferdinand, Kacurri (19.Clarke), Lannin-Sweet (46.Onyekachukwu), Washington; Ibrahim, Dudziak (46.Agustian), Marciniak; Bailey Joseph (46.Thompson), Sagoe Jr. (46.O’Neill), Zecevic-John (46.Oyetunde).

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