Our under-21s were beaten 4–1 by FK Austria Wien II in the third fixture of our pre-season campaign.
The hosts took the lead early on, capitalising in the seventh minute when a long ball over the top found Konstantin Aleksa, who raced through and coolly finished into the bottom-right corner.
We gradually grew into the game and came close to levelling through Brando Bailey-Joseph, whose powerful effort from distance forced a sharp save from the Wien goalkeeper.
However, just after the half-hour mark, the Austrian side doubled their lead. A neat passing move saw Marijan Österreicher find space in the box before calmly slotting past Jack Porter.
We continued to press forward, and Alex Marciniak tested the goalkeeper again with a well-struck shot. But just before the break, misfortune struck as a cross from the right deflected off one of our defenders and looped into the net for an own goal, making it 3-0 at half-time.
Max Porter made several changes during the interval, including introducing new signing Demiane Agustien from Derby County. The midfielder nearly made an immediate impact with a powerful strike from range that whistled just past the post.
Wien added a fourth late on when Marcel Stöger found a pocket of space inside the area and finished low into the corner.
Despite the scoreline, our young Gunners continued to show fight and were rewarded with a late consolation. Ceadach O’Neill did well to pick out Daniel Oyetunde, who made no mistake from close range to get us on the scoresheet.
What’s Next
Our U21s are back in action on Tuesday, July 29, as we take on Enfield Town in our fourth pre-season friendly.Â
Kick-off at the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium is at 7pm (UK time).
TEAM NEWS
Arsenal XI: Porter (Mitchell, 60), Ferdinand, Kacurri (Clarke, 18), Sweet (Onyekachukwu, 46), Washington, Ibrahim (Murisa, 46), Dudziak (Agustien, 46), Marciniak (Hashi, 60), Bailey-Joseph, (Oyetunde, 46) Sagoe Jr (O’Neill, 46), Zecevic John (Thompson, 46)
Subs not used: King, Ogunnaike
