Plusses for Under-21s from France test - Ugo

Ugo Ehiogu felt the National Under-21 Tournament in France ticked all the pre-season boxes.

The squad finished fourth overall in the prestigious event in Ploufragan but were only beaten once in normal time, that loss in the third/fourth place play-off against Lorient on Sunday.

“We would have loved to have won the tournament and felt we could have won it - we played four matches and only lost one in normal time - so that was disappointing, but there were plenty of plusses,” said coach Ugo.

“Grant Hall was the ultimate professional and led by example and Cameron Carter-Vickers was good defensively, as you’d now expect.

“Physically, we matched up well. We’ve players like Cy Goddard and Luke Amos (both 18) stepping into a more senior tournament and they know how they have to adapt and play.

“We’ll get another dose of that against Stevenage on Saturday. We know we’ll need to be at it there as we get to the levels we need to be at for when the season starts against Everton on August 10.”

Ismail Azzaoui was later named Player of the Tournament. “He had some exciting, eye-catching moments and he has that ability to do something special,” added Ugo. “He’s certainly capable of the ‘wow’ moments but he has to continue to learn and develop.”

Our Spurs XI team take on Stevenage in a pre-season friendly at the Lamex Stadium on Saturday (3pm).