Charlton Athletic U18s goalkeeper Ahmed Kone spoke to Valley Gold Academy Notes after the recent 2-0 win at home to Barnsley in the Professional Development League Cup.
The young shot-stopper signed for the Addicks at U15 level during the 2019/20 season, and believes his biggest improvements whilst learning at the Charlton Academy is his distribution and ability to deal with crosses. Speaking after the victory against their South Yorkshire counterparts, he told Valley Gold:
“Both teams came flying out the blocks and started energetically, pressing all the way to the keepers and forcing each other into playing long balls which was not what either team wanted with the wind causing the ball to move all over the place. However, it was the away side who managed to control the ball in the early stages, using the conditions to their advantage and playing many testing balls into our box.
“The Northerners came close to breaking the deadlock on a few occasions however some brilliant blocks from the backline kept the young Addicks’ clean sheet intact. As the game went on, we began to get at them a lot more particularly from tidy build-up play in the middle of the pitch and clever play down the sides. We had a couple of decent chances to score but, credit to Barnsley, they put their bodies on the line well to prevent us from taking a well-deserved lead.
“The second half began goalless and this time both sides started poorly. Neither side could really keep possession of the ball despite our best efforts; the weather could be blamed for this lack in quality, however, despite our early struggles in the 2nd half, we kept on trying to play our way through the thirds and pushing Barnsley back.
“With wind and rain swirling all around the place, we continued in our pursuit of an opening and we finally got it when Ryan Huke was brought down cynically in the box by Barnsley’s number 5 and the referee pointed to the spot. The penalty was smashed in under the diving keeper by Toby Bower to add to his excellent goalscoring tally this season.
“As the half went on, we enjoyed more and more of the ball which did leave us susceptible to counter attacks and we had to be aware of dangerous balls caused by the wind carrying the ball well into our defensive third. But despite these issues, the result was sealed in the 76th minute when substitute Henry Rylah came on to breeze past his man on the right-wing before fizzing a low ball into the 6-yard box for Mack Reilly to slot in and put the result beyond all doubt.
“From then on, it was about keeping the ball and we did so well enough to secure a vital victory in testing conditions, setting up a challenging semi-final tie away at Coventry.”
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