BOTH Dylan Scott and Charlie Williams bagged braces as Burton Albion beat Grimsby Town 4-0 in the EFL Youth Alliance league.
It was a perfect start to the new year for Albion’s Professional Development Phase who dominated Friday afternoon’s clash at St George’s Park from start to finish.
The young Brewers bagged their first two goals of the afternoon following set piece situations with Scott finishing from close range following a Drew Robinson corner, whilst Williams scored a stunning freekick.
Scott extended Burton’s lead late in the first half before Williams bagged Burton’s fourth eight minutes from time.
Albion had high expectations coming into this fixture after they wrapped up 2022 in style with a convincing 6-0 victory over Mansfield Town in their final league game before Christmas.
And it didn’t take long for the young Brewers to get going this year either as they bombarded the Mariners’ goal with a number of fine early chances.
Ben Maginness was extremely unfortunate to not open the scoring in the 11th minute when he sneakily intercepted Louis Boyd’s weak back pass, but his toe-poke lacked accuracy as it rolled narrowly wide of the target.
Two minutes later the Brewers came close again. This time Robinson’s free kick 25 yards out from goal seemed destined for the top left corner, but Will Mitchell scrambled across his line to tip the ball behind.
Robinson provided an expert delivery from the resulting corner which allowed SCOTT to volley home from close range giving Albion a much deserved 14-minute lead.
Burton soon doubled their lead on 27 minutes when WILLIAMS expertly placed a free-kick into the bottom-left corner from 25 yards out.
Albion’s ruthless finishing continued as they went 3-0 up in the 37th minute after Connor Pace played a stunning 40 yard pass across to Maginness, who unselfishly squared the ball across to SCOTT and the young striker tapped the ball home from close range.
HALF-TIME: BURTON ALBION 3-0 GRIMSBY TOWN
Albion understandably took their foot off the gas following an electrifying first 45 as Grimsby started to come into the game after a triple change at the break.
Dan Moore was finally tested in the 61st minute when Harry Milner expertly took down a lofted through ball before firing a low shot towards goal, but Moore got down extremely quickly to push the ball away from danger.
As the second half progressed Albion started to create more chances and Scott was inches away from netting back-to-back hattricks in the 79th minute.
Substitute Johnny Rush played a great ball down the left wing to Scott who drove dangerously into the box before firing a low shot towards the far corner, but Mitchell did very well to tip the ball behind.
Williams bagged his brace only three minutes later after a great team move resulted in Scott playing the ball through to WILLIAMS who calmly sent one defender to the floor before smashing the ball into the bottom-left corner.
FULL-TIME: BURTON ALBION 4-0 GRIMSBY TOWN
ALBION: Moore, Nyahwema (Bennett 78), Ranger (Rush 68), Gilbert, Tamen, Robinson, Maginness (Knowles 78), Pace (Hazell 86), Scott, Oakes, Williams.
Unused sub: Dudek.
GOALS: SCOTT (14,37), WILLIAMS (27,82).
All photos kind courtesy of Sally Rose.