Aston Villa Central

The academy side recorded a 4-1 victory over Milwall in the 5th Round FA Youth Cup, setting up a quarter final against Fulham. The draw for the semi-finals has already been made and if they manage to beat Fulham they’ll face either Newcastle or Crystal Palace.

Young Dutchman Arsenio Halfhuid notched up an impressive hat-trick in the win over Milwall, all three provided by strike partner Ryan Simmonds, who bagged the other Villa goal himself. I was interested to hear from Simmonds, in the post match interview, how he enjoyed playing with “the big man” as defenders were naturally drawn to marking him, freeing up space for Simmonds in the process.

Probably most striking though (no pun intended), is that Halfhuid has only recently made the switch from central defender to striker after displaying a natural taste for goal during training. After just a few weeks playing as a striker he’s bagged his first hat-trick.

However, Arsenio has just been filling in due to a few injuries among the strikers and he was brought in from Excelsior Rotterdam as a centre half, but given MON’s liking of a big striker, I’m sure his recent performances are being duly noted.

One potential challenge, should Halfhuid follow in John Carew’s footsteps, will lie with the Holte End to come up with a suitable song. He may well score one or two and be bigger than me or you, but that just doesn’t scan well with Arsenio Halfhuid! Still, he’s only 18 years old, plenty of time yet.

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