COURTNEY Austin hit a first-half hat-trick as Brent under-13s began their defence of the Compton Cup with a bang against Ealing.

COURTNEY Austin hit a first-half hat-trick as Brent under-13s began their defence of the Compton Cup with a 5-2 win against Ealing.

Brent thrashed Ealing 9-0 to secure the trophy last season but, although they faced tougher opposition this time, the pace of Austin and fellow striker Gianni Crichlow proved decisive.

Austin netted three times in the first half, with Crichlow also on target while, at the other end, Mikkel James, Ramayne Pennant, Kevin Holden and captain Dean Benzaken held the Brent defence together.

Ash Hameed gave Ealing problems down the left flank, while the hard-working Christian Wittingham shone in the centre of the park before an elbow in the face forced him off.

Ealing did finally get on the scoresheet twice in the second half, but the pick of the goals was Brent’s fifth – a 25-yard thunderbolt from Joshua Bonds.

“We shouldn’t really have conceded the two goals,” said Brent manager Keith Young. “We stopped passing the ball around and made silly mistakes, but on the whole I was pleased with our overall performance.”

Brent squad: Khan, Reingold, Pennant, Benzaken, James, Hameed, Wittingham, Bonds, Pevovic, Prempeh, Crichlow, Austin, Williams, Palmer, Holden.

n RICKY German recorded his second hat-trick in successive weeks as Brent under-12s maintained their fine start to the season with a 3-0 win at Ealing.

German and Vinicius Alves struggled to deal with the Ealing offside trap in the first half, with the latter steering Brent’s best chance agonisingly wide of the far corner.

At the other end, a point-blank save from Brent goalkeeper Antwayne Plummer kept the contest scoreless, but the visitors took the lead just after half-time when an Alves shot was parried and German fired in the rebound.

Brent doubled their lead when the goalkeeper’s clearance struck German and he outpaced the Ealing defenders to slide the ball home.

Substitute Oscar Green caused havoc on the right and was unlucky not to score, while Nicolas Petri bossed the game in midfield and debutant Adersh Patel filled in well after replacing the injured Isaac Paiva.

Ealing came close to pulling a goal back, with Antonio Velay’s 30-yarder hitting the underside of the bar and Plummer making a spectacular save to deny Chris Velay before German finished off a neat passing movement to complete his treble.

“For Ricky to score two hat-tricks in a row is a great achievement, but the whole team must share the credit,” said Brent manager Chris Ampofo. “It was nice to see Nicolas, Oscar and Adersh come on and play so well.”

Brent squad: Plummer (Ark Academy), Laignel (QPCS), Pardoe (Wembley High), Paiva (QPCS), Mantinou (St Gregory’s), Preston (St Gregory’s), Robert-Keane (St Gregory’s), Miguil (Copland), Beach (Kingsbury), German (St Gregory’s), Alves (QPCS), Petri (Claremont), Green (JFS), Aubrey (St Gregory’s), Patel (Claremont), Amoah (St Gregory’s), Ibraham (Kingsbury).

n LAST-MINUTE withdrawals cost Brent under-14s dearly as they had to play with 10 men and went down 4-0 to Ealing in the Middlesex Trophy.

Despite their depleted numbers, Brent had the better of the early stages, with Kingsbury’s Osamu Allmann firing just wide, but Ealing took the lead with a 25-yard strike on the counter-attack.

Two further goals in the next 10 minutes left Brent with a mountain to climb, but they played with a good deal of heart in the second half and restricted Ealing to just one more goal.

“The boys worked their socks off and will be rewarded when they play in a full strength side in the coming weeks,” said manager Mohammed Junior Jimbah. “The future is bright for this Brent side.”

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