Fulham 1-2 Spurs (U18s) - report from Motspur Park

Armando Shashoua and Troy Parrot bagged their first Under-18 Premier League goals as our youngsters came back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 at Fulham on Saturday.

We’d trailed to Timmy Abraham’s early strike but had more attempts at goal, despite letting ourselves down at the back at times, but Shashoua got us back on level terms with some good footwork and a smart finish on 21 minutes.

Striker Parrot, who scored 10 goals in an Under-17 tournament in Italy last week, had an effort cleared off the line before putting us in front eight minutes into the second half after Tariq Hinds’ effort was saved.

Fulham couldn’t meaningfully trouble Jonathan De Bie after that and we made a swift return to winning ways after our slip-up at West Ham 10 days ago.

Action summary

Sloppy defending cost us a goal just five minutes in at Motspur Park as striker Abraham, younger brother of Swansea City loanee Tammy, finished off a counter-attack with a shot from the edge of the box that found the bottom corner.

Parrot almost came up with a response when Jamie Bowden’s ball through into the box was met by onrushing goalkeeper Julian Schwarzer, son of ex-Fulham stopper Mark, and the striker got onto the loose ball, only for Jaydn Mundle-Smith to get back and clear off the line.

 Above: Oliver Skipp makes a challenge (pics: Fulham FC/Will Harrop).

Fulham always looked a threat on the counter but we levelled on 21 minutes when Jneil Bennett’s cross from the left was cleared as far as Shashoua, who twisted and turned into the box and scored from 14 yards out with players all around him.

Bennett was denied by Schwarzer on the half-hour mark, with the Fulham stopper in action once more with five minutes to go until the break, producing a good save to keep out Dilan Markanday’s back post header from Bennett’s delivery.

We took the lead on 53 minutes when Shashoua cut back to Hinds on the edge of the box, his shot was saved by Schwarzer and Parrot reacted quickest to score from a narrow angle.

It had become an open, end-to-end contest with Oliver Skipp making a good block to thwart a Fulham counter-attack towards the end, but we found ourselves lacking an effective final ball. Ultimately, though, we had done enough to claim victory on Under-18s Coach Scott Parker’s first return to his former club.

Coach Scott Parker said

“At times we played some really nice stuff. We started slowly and I was disappointed with our first half performance in terms of the fact that we had some nice bits going forward but out of possession we weren’t as aggressive or forward-thinking as maybe we should have been and they were always a danger on the counter-attack. Defensively we were quite poor as a team and that was a problem which we tried to address at half-time. The second half was much better, we had a threat about us, had some good opportunities like we always do and the other side of things which let us down in the first half was better in the second. On reflection it was a fair result.

“It was a lovely finish from Armando for our first goal – good, quick feet around the edge of the box and a lovely finish to put it in and then Troy, who has come off the back of a good tournament, scored his first Under-18s goal with a typical poacher’s finish, following up on a rebound from a shot from Tariq Hinds. He still had a little bit to do from a tight angle but he put it in, so I was pleased for both of those boys.”

Team line-up

Spurs U18s: De Bie (c), Hinds, Reynolds, Bowden, Skipp, Dinzeyi, Markanday, A Shashoua (Tainio 90), Parrot, Patterson (P Maghoma 69), Bennett (Mukendi 83). Substitutes (not used): Freeman, White.

Up next

Our Under-18s are back on the road in midweek as they head to Norwich City’s training centre for another league outing on Wednesday, kick-off 12pm.