Town's U18s continued their winning run with a comfortable 4-0 victory against Crewe Alexandra at Playford Road on Saturday morning.

The game was practically over as a contest after three goals in three first-half minutes left the visitors shellshocked. Cemal Ramadan (pictured) opened the scoring on 11 after a fine through ball from Sam Ford.

Two minutes later, good pressing from Town forced an error in the Crewe defence and Ramadan's fierce strike was partly blocked by keeper Kieron Harrison, but Chris Smith followed in to head the ball over the line from close range.

James Blanchfield made it three within a minute after a good run on the left and a cool finish past Harrison.

Town controlled the rest of the half with the visitors offering very little in the final third. Ronaldo Jones added his name to the scoresheet three minutes after the restart when his deflected cross hit the far post and rolled into the net.

Crewe played the remaining half hour with 10 men as both their substitutes had already been used when Callum Ainley was forced off through injury.

Town's youngsters controlled the rest of the game and really should have added to the score - Ford and Isaac Maynard both saw efforts come off the woodwork.

To their credit the visitors continued to play their passing football throughout, but Town were too strong and deserved the win.

Ramadan and Blanchfield stood out during the first-half performance and both caused the visitors problems before being substituted during the second half.

Meanwhile, academy scholar Monty Patterson could win New Zealand U20 caps later this week, while schoolboy Andre Dozzell will be away with the England U16 squad.

Elsewhere, Town’s U12s are taking part in the Pro 10 International Cup in Dublin this weekend thanks to sponsorship from Farnham Leisure Ltd.

U18s: Hayes, Emmanuel, Nydam, Blanchfield (Downes 57), Salaudeen, Kenlock, Jones, Smith, Ford (Meldrum 69), Maynard, Ramadan (Morris 57). Unused: McDermid, Woolfenden.

Photo: Action Images

Bluetone added 15:00 - Mar 28 Cemal Ramadan looks a little like the young George Burley.
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BillBlue added 17:38 - Mar 28 Ah, now you are talking Bluetone. Shall never forget that young man overlapping down the wing with his hands flapping away, great days.
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Paulblue62 added 18:40 - Mar 28 Watched them early in the season and they looked very promising. I shall try and get along again before seasons end. Great result lads. The futures bright and blue.
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Seasider added 12:17 - Mar 29 Nice to see any team @ ITFC winning well. Strange nothing heard about Cat 1 application.Same thing happened last year,hope result different though. Opposition for under 21's would be stronger in Cat 1 ;not sure if this applies to lower age groups?
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DCAB added 13:45 - Mar 30 Watch the game and we dominated the midfield with some excellent finishing for the goals.
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