Town's U18 side lost 3-1 to Liverpool in a friendly at Playford Road on Saturday morning. An early goal from Blair Hammond was not enough for a young Blues side.

The Town Academy fielded Canadian trialist Jaime Peters in midfield. Peters, who has already played for his national B side, impressed with his quick and mazy runs that threatened the Liverpool defence. The 17-year-old is with German side Kaiserslautern's youth system.

Town took the lead on five minutes when Blair Hammond fired past Liverpool keeper Paul Willis from close range.

Midway through the first half, Liverpool equalised with a very well taken free-kick that beat Shane Supple in the Ipswich goal.

Sensibly, the referee allowed drinks breaks for the players in each half. During the breaks, the players took on lots of fluid and had a team-talk with their respective managers.

Town kept the same side for the start of the second half, but Liverpool made five changes to their side, but some of the replaced players did come on again later on.

The Blues made their first change on 55 minutes after Darryl Knights had fallen awkwardly after going up for a header. He was replaced by Scottish youngster Alan Storrie. Two minutes later, Hammond picked up a nasty ankle injury and was replaced by Danny Haynes.

On 60 minutes, Peters was replaced by another Scottish midfielder, Fraser Beveridge. Beveridge, who worked hard and played a few good balls out wide, but apart from that, didn't do very much. At the same time, Irish midfielder Cathal Lordan replaced Daniel Flack, who hadn't had one of his best games in a Town shirt.

Five minutes later, young Irish striker Billy Clarke came on for Stuart Ainsley. Town moved Liam Craig, who had previously been playing at left-back, up front, and Ainsley went to left-back.

On 70 minutes, tough-tackling midfielder Liam Manning was replaced by schoolboy Jack Haverson. Haverson moved into the centre-back role, alongside Ben Patten.

In the 78th minute, Knights came back on to replace James Krause. Knights went up straight up front and almost scored after a good corner from Cathal Lordan. Two minutes later, Liverpool took the lead through their big number four. Town had failed to clear a corner, and he hammered the ball home.

Danny Haynes had a great chance on 87 minutes after he kept running at the defenders, who were trying to play keep-ball. The ball was played in front of the Liverpool goalie, but behind the last defender, but all Haynes could do from six yards out was toe-poke the ball straight at goalie Willis. Lee Peltier slid in and got the ball away for a corner.

Almost straight after the corner had been cleared, Liverpool made it 3-1 through Ryan Wilkie, after he had been given the ball by Jack Haverson. Haverson had received a goal-kick from Supple, but he had no options and in the end, passed it straight to Wilkie, who finished well from 20 yards. That was the last kick of the game before the referee blew the final whistle.

Ipswich Town U18: Shane Supple, Sammy Moore, Liam Craig, Liam Manning (Jack Haverson 70), Ben Patten, James Krause (Darryl Knights 78), Jamie Peters (Fraser Beveridge 60), Daniel Flack (Cathal Lordan 60), Blair Hammond (Danny Haynes 57), Billy Clarke (Stuart Ainsley 65) and Darryl Knights (Alan Storrie 55).

Photo: Action Images

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