U17s start tour with Malaysia triumph
Liverpool's U17s kicked off their first ever Asian tour by coming from behind to beat Frenz United Malaysia 2-1 at the Selayang Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
Thousands of passionate Liverpool fans turned out to catch a first glimpse of the next generation of young players hoping to make the grade at Anfield, and will have left confident that the conveyor belt of exciting young talent emerging from the Academy in recent years shows no signs of slowing up.
After enjoying the best of the opening stages and almost taking the lead with a well-worked move in the first minute of the game, the Reds fell behind after 36 minutes to a breakaway goal from Muhd Najmuddin Samat against the run of play.
The home side's lead didn't last long, though, and within three minutes the visitors were back on level terms after Jack Watts scored a fantastic goal from the tightest of angles.
And within nine minutes of the restart, the Reds took the lead through an Alaster Redmayne close-range tap-in - his very last kick of the game before being substituted for Wade Maxwell.
The game - the first of two matches being played as a prelude to the Frenz International Cup 2014 - was broadcast live on both Fox Sports and RTM TV in Malaysia, and lead coach Des Maher believes the whole experience will have been priceless for his young players.
"The whole trip has been fantastic for the development of these young players and they will gain a lot from having experienced it," Maher told Liverpoolfc.com.
"This will be the biggest crowd these boys will have played in front of and to have the match broadcast live here in Malaysia shows just how prestigious this tournament is.
"The conditions - combined with the travelling the boys have done - will have made it tough out there but we were very pleased with their performance against a very strong opposition side."
The youngsters will meet LFC fans in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday before flying to Jogjakarta on Monday ahead of a game against Frenz United Indonesia on Wednesday, January 8 at the Sultan Agung Stadium.
Liverpool U17s team: Firth (c), Travis, Rimmer, Whelan, Sheron, Virtue-Thick, Lennon, Griffin, Redmayne, Brimmer, Watts.
Click here to view a photo album of the trip so far on the official LFC Facebook page.
Click here to follow the official LFC Malaysian Twitter account, @MalaysiaLFC.