Willis and Morgan-Wood score four each as the Under-18s beat Rogerstone 12-1

Noah Willis and Rheuben Morgan-Wood both scored four as the Under-18s won through in the Gwent Premier Youth Cup under the Celtic Park floodlights.

This was expected to be a close game under the Celtic Park floodlights – both sides had almost identical 100% playing records in their respective Gwent South & North Youth league tables and both had only lost to Porthcawl Town in successive rounds of the Welsh Cup on penalties.

Celtic got off to a cracking start, Noah Willis scoring a hat-trick in the opening 12 minutes. His first was a simple tap in after keeper Joe Watson unaccountably dropped a long ball from Luke Betts at Noah’s feet on the edge of the 18 yard box. His second came when he deflected a shot by Kian Saunders into the corner of the net. His hat-trick goal came from another assist by Betts. Celtic went 4-0 up on 20 minutes when the keeper spilled a Saunders free kick to give Betts a tap-in goal.

On the half hour Noah turned provider, playing Betts down the right who smashed the ball home. Rogerstone had shown some good moves in their few attacks on the Celtic goal and in the 36th minute they pulled a goal back when Theo Madden, unmarked in front of goal, converted Noah Morgan’s cross from the right. Celtic quickly responded with their 6th goal – the best of the night so far. Strong play by Betts won the ball and Joe Barber played a lovely weighted pass down the right for Willis to cross for Luca Griffiths Hoes to score.

Celtic started the 2nd half where they left off with goal number 7 which came from a superb run half the length of the pitch down the left by Willis whose cross gave Griffiths Hoes an easy goal. In the 56th minute the visitor’s Finley Bowen was red-carded for a foot-in challenge. Rheuben Morgan-Wood came on as substitute and in the 64th minute he was on the scoresheet converting a cross from Griffiths-Hoes. 6 minutes later Rheuben scored again. Betts played Tobias Williams-Dunne down the left. His cross bounced off Rheuben’s chest but he was quicker to react to the loose ball than the 2 defenders and he scored from close range.

Goal no 10 came in the 82nd minute, Morgan-Woods was the provider with a cross from the right which Harri Pritchard placed high into the net. Rheuben scored twice more before the final whistle, his hat-trick goal from an assist by Betts, and his 4th goal came from a move started by Saunders who took a return pass from Luke Betts to cross for Rheuben to score. This was Luke’s 3rd assist in an outstanding individual performance.

The management team of Messrs Betts and Shepard must have been impressed with this performance from a Celtic side brimming with talent.

Words: John Stockwell

Scorers

Cwmbran Celtic U18: Noah Willis 1′, 9′, 12′, 38′, Luke Betts 20′, 32′, Luca Griffiths-Hoes 49′, Rheuben Morgan-Wood 64′, 70′, 87′, 90+1′, Harri Pritchard 82′
Rogerstone: Theo Madden 36′