Liverpool U21s beat Chorley in pre-season friendly

Calum Scanlon gave the young Reds a first-half lead against the Vanarama National League North outfit before half-time substitute Ranel Young made it two 10 minutes from the end in front of a crowd of 1,112.

Barry Lewtas’ side settled well and controlled the ball for the opening spell but it was the hosts who almost struck first.

A foul from James Balagizi offered a central free-kick from 20 yards and Jack Rice’s effort was only just wide of the post with 10 minutes gone.

Chorley created another chance just before the quarter-hour, a good ball finding George Horbury in space in the box but he shot over the bar as Jakub Ojrzynski rushed out to narrow the angle.

The home support thought they were ahead when Mark Ellis rippled the net with a powerful back-post header. However, it was only the side-netting, and it was Liverpool who opened the scoring with 20 minutes on the clock.

Balagizi drove forward and fed James Norris on the left, who in turn released Scanlon on the overlap, his dinked cross-shot looping over goalkeeper Mark Unwin and into the net.

Chances were few and far between after that in the first period, though Ojrzynski made a terrific point-blank stop from a headed knockdown. However, a late flag from the assistant referee suggested any goal would have been disallowed in any case.

Chorley made several half-time substitutions while Lewtas waited until the hour mark to bring in reinforcements from the bench.

Ojrzynski needed to be alert to turn over a huge long throw that landed on his line, while substitute Wellity Lucky was perfectly placed to clear another dangerous centre from the home team.

Kieran Morrison was a threat on the right for Liverpool when he came on, his direct running a welcome addition to the action.

Goalmouth incident was still limited with the young Reds generally content to keep the ball and get minutes into their legs without hugely pushing for a second.

But it duly arrived with 10 minutes left thanks to the persistence of Young, who pressed the goalkeeper into a mistake in his own box, pinched the ball and rolled it home into an empty net.

Liverpool U21s: Ojrzynski, Miles, Scanlon, Williams, Koumetio (Lucky, 60), Corness, Hill (K. Kelly, 60), Pilling (Spearing, 73), Norris (Laffey, 60), Balagizi (Morrison, 60), Cannonier (Young, 46).

Unused sub: Poytress.