Young duo Lewis Koumas and James McConnell returned from injury as Liverpool U18s beat Huddersfield Town 2-1 in a friendly encounter.

Both players, who have been out of action since October, played the opening 45 minutes of the contest at the Academy on Saturday morning.

Midfielder Kyle Kelly also marked his return from injury to earn his first minutes of 2023.

McConnell netted with a superb free-kick in the opening half, while Elijah Gift came off the bench to fire the winner for Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's side.

Liverpool U18s: Mrozek, Davidson, Scanlon, Osborne, Miles, Laffey (Pennington, 76), Young (Gift, 66), McConnell (Kelly, 46), Koumas (Hayes-Green, 46), Danns, Kone-Doherty.