Spurs U18s 4-0 Swansea U18s

Full-back Tariq Hinds popped up with his first two goals of the season to set our Under-18s on the way to a convincing 4-0 home win over Swansea City on Tuesday afternoon (February 21).

The 16-year-old got forward from left-back to hand us a 13th-minute lead before curling in a real peach of a second with his right foot on the half-hour mark.

It gave us a solid base to build on and goals from Jack Roles and Samuel Shashoua shortly after the break saw us complete a resounding victory – a welcome return to winning ways in the Under-18 Premier League after a series of frustrating outings since the turn of the year.

At the other end, goalkeeper Brandon Austin had one routine stop to make from substitute Causso Darame in the latter stages in what was the only real time he had to intervene.

Key action

There was an early scare as a long-range shot crashed wide but we soon got into our stride in what was at times a tough-tackling first period at Hotspur Way.

The opener arrived on 13 minutes when Shashoua, once again causing the opponents problems with his dribbling, cut in from close to the byline on the left and, after Roles lost his footing, the ball eventually fell for Hinds to bend one in low from just inside the area.

Swans goalkeeper Ross Treacy was forced to depart the action midway through the first half having initially tried to carry on following a collision with Reo Griffiths and on 28 minutes his replacement, Alex Lang, made a double save to thwart Roles and the sliding Keanan Bennetts.

Hinds gave us a crucial second goal on the half-hour mark, sending the ball flying inside the far post with whip from 20 yards out – a fine strike.

Above: Reo Griffiths in action.

Lang beat away Tashan Oakley-Boothe’s effort while we started the second half as we meant to go on, adding a third goal within 60 seconds of the resumption. Jon Dinzeyi met Shashoua’s wide free-kick in the area but it wouldn’t quite fall for him, with the ball eventually dropping for Roles to drill in through the crowd from eight yards out.

Hinds applied a side-footed finish to Griffiths’ cut-back but was denied his hat-trick by Lang, who then kept out Griffiths’ own attempt as the dominant nature of our second half performance continued.

It was 4-0 on 56 minutes when Bennetts picked out Shashoua in space on the right side of the area, the latter taking a touch before driving into the net. Shashoua was left to rue some wayward finishing later on, though, first striking the crossbar on 71 minutes before shooting wide twice in the latter stages. Substitute Juan Pablo Gonzalez-Velasco also saw a couple of opportunities go begging in front of goal, while Austin caught Darame’s late set-piece to preserve his clean sheet.

Team line-up

Spurs U18s: Austin, Lock, Hinds, Marsh (c, Omolabi 64), Eyoma, Dinzeyi, Shashoua, Roles (Reynolds 59), Griffiths, Oakley-Boothe, Bennetts (Gonzalez-Velasco 68). Substitutes (not used): Brown, Whiteman (GK).

Up next

The road to Monday night’s FA Youth Cup quarter-final at Newcastle United takes one final stop on Saturday with an Under-18 Premier League trip to Aston Villa. Kick-off at Bodymoor Heath will be at 12noon.