It was not the best of starts to pre-season for Arsenal, as they lost their first preseason friendly to Hibernian of the Scottish Premiership.
The match at the Easter Road Stadium in Edinburgh finished 2-1 in favour of the hosts, as goals from Martin Boyle and Daniel McKay cancelled out Emile Smith-Rowe’s strike for the Gunners.
If the result was deemed bad, the first goal Arsenal conceded was even worse–thanks to an awful mistake by their young goalkeeper.
Academy goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo started in goal for the Gunners on Tuesday, but his first senior start for the club went horribly wrong as he conceded embarrassingly.
From a long ball in the 22nd minute, Arsenal’s defence was tested, as Harry Clarke won an aerial duel with Kevin Nisbet–only for Cedric Soares to connect with a weak pass back to his goalkeeper.
With Martin Boyle in pursuit, Okonkwo had his job cut out–to clear his lines.
But the 19-year-old failed to do so in hilarious fashion, as he completely mistimed his wild swing at the ball with his right foot.
Okonkwo failed to make any connection with the ball whatsoever, as Boyle had to apply one of the easiest finishes he’s ever made in his career–the Australian merely rolled the ball into the back of the net from five yards out.
Arsenal goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo fails to deal with a Cedric back pass & it leaves Hibs’ Martin Boyle to tap-in to an empty net to take the lead. #afc pic.twitter.com/j14lddNgdd
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) July 13, 2021
