Spurs 4-2 Norwich U18s - Kieran's verdict

Under-18s Coach Kieran McKenna was left to reflect on contrasting halves of football after our youngsters’ 4-2 win against Norwich City on Saturday.

A brace from Ryan Loft, coupled with goals from Anthony Georgiou and Kyle Walker-Peters, saw us open our Barclays Under-18 Premier League campaign with a comfortable win at the Training Centre.

Georgiou, Cy Goddard and skipper Joe Pritchard all went close in the first half and, while Kieran was pleased with the way we enjoyed the bulk of the possession, he felt there were lessons to be learned from the way Norwich imposed themselves on parts of the game in the latter stages.

“In the first half we controlled the game well, created plenty of chances and passed the ball well,” he said.

“But in the second half I was disappointed with the amount of turnovers in there. They probably had more of the ball than we would have wanted so there’s certainly lots of room for improvement.”

With three early points in the bag, Kieran reserved praise for our goalscorers on the day.

“I was really happy with Ryan after his two goals,” he added. “He’s been scoring all pre-season and he’s got a lot of work to do on his all-round game, but at the moment he’s doing the hardest part of the game which is putting the ball in the net.

“With Kyle, we’ve been pushing him to be more effective in terms of his goals and assists so it’s a pleasing strike for him. Anthony also got a goal and an assist so that’s positive.”