Our young Gunners were beaten 3-1 away at Sunderland in the Premier League 2 on Monday.
The home side took an early lead at Eppleton Colliery Football Ground through Ahmed Abdullahi, before finishes from Jenson Jones and Ben Kindon had them three up by the break.
Andre Harriman-Annous struck after half-time to offer a vital lifeline, but minutes ticked on as we were unable to find any follow-up returns.
What Happened
We got off to the worst possible start when Abdullahi ran through unchallenged and placed his shot through Remy Mitchell’s legs to give the Black Cats the lead within two minutes.
We looked to have found a response when Joseph Cowan dropped Theo Julienne’s cross, which was headed goalward by Archie Stevens and tapped in by Maalik Hashi, but the 17-year-old was deemed to be in an offside position.
The Wearside outfit doubled their lead moments later, though, when a well-worked move found Charles Dinsdale out wide, who sent a low ball across our box, guided home by Jenson Jones.
We were awarded a potential route back into the game on the half-hour mark, when Harriman-Annous was tripped in the box by Jack Whittaker. However, our forward was denied by a strong palm from Cowan, who was quick to dive low to his right.
Sunderland had a third on the stroke of half-time. Kindon broke free at the back post to latch onto Whittaker’s inswinging corner, able to poke home from a yard out.
Harriman-Annous offered us a glimmer of hope after the interval, finding Evan Mooney’s cutback and curling a wonderful first-time finish beyond the goalkeeper, into the top-right corner.
We kept on pushing, and almost reduced the deficit further when Mooney picked out Seb Ferdiand on the right flank for our full-back to fizz his shot back across the net, only marginally clearing Cowan’s woodwork.
The hosts were able to nullify any further response and saw out the remainder of the game, which ended 3-1, delaying our play-off confirmation for another gameweek.
What’s Next
Our under-21s will look to secure a spot in the top 16 when they host West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, April 4.
Kick-off at Mangata Developments Stadium is at 2pm (UK time).
TEAM NEWS
Sunderland XI: Cowan, Je.Jones (Lienard 84), Lightfoot, Ja.Jones, Holcroft, Kindon, Dinsdale (Lenz 65), Whittaker, Abdullahi (Proctor 64), H.Jones, Scott (Campbell 65).
Subs unused: Metcalf.
Arsenal XI: Mitchell, Ferdinand, Ogunnaike, Owusu-Gyasi, Chapman (Murisa 88), Ibrahim, Stevens (Hamill 62), Julienne, Mooney, Hashi (Nduka 71), Harriman-Annous.
Subs unused: Bailey-Joseph.
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