Youngsters react to FA Youth Cup win over Preston

It was a case of ‘job done’ for our Under-18s after Tuesday’s 5-0 win over Preston North End in the FA Youth Cup.

Goals from Paris Maghoma and Phoenix Patterson were added to by Rodel Richards’ second hat-trick in 11 days as we saw off a determined Preston side in the third round at the Training Centre.

Understandably thrilled with the victory, the players were keeping their feet firmly on the ground after the match. Here’s what some of the youngsters involved had to say…

Oliver Skipp, midfielder

Thoughts on the result
“We’re delighted to win and get through to the next round. Obviously it’s a big competition, one you look forward to at the start of the year and we just want to go as far as possible. We played well and did what we needed to do to get through. The two centre-halves (TJ Eyoma and Brooklyn Lyons-Foster) defended crosses really well and got the first contact on the ball and also, especially in the second half, the full-backs stopped crosses from coming in.”

Did your experiences in last year’s FA Youth Cup campaign help?
“It definitely helped because you know what the competition is about and you know how teams are going to set up. We played against similar styles last year with QPR and Norwich – they played more direct football than maybe we are used to on a regular basis, so it helps to have to prepare for different kinds of games.”

Do you feel like there’s expectation for a team like Spurs to do well in the FA Youth Cup again this year?
“Of course, but within the group we put pressure on ourselves to get far as well. I hope we do it justice and get as far as possible this year. We just have to continue playing the way we’re playing and have faith in what we’re trying to do.”

Rodel Richards, forward

Thoughts on your hat-trick
“I’m delighted with the three goals but they couldn’t have come without a good team performance. We’ve been working a lot in training on how we were going to deal with Preston and I think it really came together. They were a very spirited team, they played very direct but I thought we handled that well at the back, we clocked onto their game early and were able to play against that.”

How important was it to score first?
“The first goal was important because it gave us the leverage to go on to play the way we wanted to and go on to score more goals. There was always pressure coming in because we want to go far in the competition and it was important to put on a good performance and win the game.”

Jamie Reynolds, left-back

Thoughts on the game overall
“Preston were a tough team to break down at the start, they seemed to press us and they’d obviously done their homework to stop us from playing out from the back. It was a tough game but obviously we were able to break through, score some goals and it was a comfortable win in the end. They obviously knew that we keep the ball well, they tried to sit back and hit us on the counter but we withstood that, got forward, created our chances and thankfully we took them.”