U18s' friendly clash ends in stalemate
Liverpool U18s played out a 0-0 draw in a friendly fixture against Bradford City at the Academy on Tuesday afternoon as the young Reds made their final preparations for the weekend's play-offs.
Neil Critchley was able to give a handful of players returning from injury precious minutes out on the field ahead of his side's trip to the Academy of Light to face Sunderland on Saturday.
Liverpool were in control throughout the first half, carving a handful of decent opportunities to break the deadlock, with Callum Nicholas and Jack Watts linking in lively fashion up front.
After the interval the clash became a much tighter affair and goalscoring opportunities all but dried up at the club's Kirkby base.
Positives emerged in the form of returns for Matthew Virtue and David Roberts on the back of long-term injuries, while Joshua Agbozo also gained much-needed playing time.
Critchley told Liverpoolfc.com following the final whistle: "It was a classic 0-0 and the draw was probably a fair result in the end. There were few chances.
"It was more of a match for me to give players who are coming back from injuries some game-time and hand players the opportunity to get out there.
"We've got Sunderland away on Saturday as we begin our batch of play-off games. We played them a couple of weeks ago and it was a very close game. We won 1-0 at home.
"But then they won the away game 2-1 earlier on in the season, so it was a case of two close-fought games and we'll expect nothing different on Saturday."
Liverpool U18s: Jackson, Sheron, Waldron, Brewitt (Roberts), Polgar (Agbozo), Hart (Owens), Dobie, Maxwell, Ejaria (Virtue), Watts, Nicholas.