Express & Star

EFL Trophy: Burton 2 Aston Villa U21s 4 - Report

Hot-shot Villa youngster Cameron Archer fired a hat-trick to put Villa’s under-21s into the EFL Trophy knockout stages after fighting back from two goals down to beat Burton Albion 4-2.

Published
Last updated

Some 464 Villa fans made the trip up the A38 to the Pirelli Stadium among a crowd of 1,108 in what looked like a tough assignment in east Staffordshire in the EFL Trophy.

And that assignment became harder still when the hosts struck twice in four minutes midway through the first half.

Daniel Jebbison hit the first before Kane Hemmings doubled the hosts’ advantage.

Villa were clinging on thanks to a couple of superb stop from 17-year-old goalkeeper Oliwier Zych but gained a foothold just on 35 minutes when Archer fired in a long-range stunner.

Burton had chances to regain their two-goal advantage before Tristan Goodridge levelled just after half-time.

Then Archer struck again 10 minutes later to put Villa ahead for the first time in the game.

And Walsall-born 19-year-old Archer sealed a superb comeback for the young Lions when he drilled home his third from just inside the penalty area.

That completed the scoring and will have hugely impressed Dean Smith, who was watching from the stands.