Under-18s score six for second Saturday running

Winners by the same scoreline at home to Reading in last weekend’s curtain-raiser, we took control at the Canaries’ training ground through a pair of cracking strikes from Armend Muslika before going up through the gears after half-time, Toju Wellspring’s effort followed by a second brace in as many games from Oliver Boast – the second one coming from the penalty spot – before Melvyn Kabongolo put the icing on the cake with his first goal for the Under-18s in the closing moments.

Norwich’s only reply came via Reece Wilkes’ penalty to make it 4-1, but it was largely one-way traffic in the second period as we saw a number of other chances go to waste amidst a dominant display in Norfolk.

In truth, we took a while to get into our rhythm and were given a scare when Wilkes cracked a shot against the crossbar after 10 minutes, but a superb free-kick from Muslika gave us the upper hand six minutes later, the midfielder whipping a clever shot around the wall and just inside the near post after a foul on Boast.

The latter subsequently had a goal disallowed for offside while Ollie Salter fired over from distance, with Norwich defender Jayden Munikwa arguably lucky to escape with only a yellow card after appearing to bring down Boast as the last man with just over half-an-hour gone. It mattered little, though, as in the wake of a short corner, Muslika crashed a fantastic shot into the top corner from 20 yards to double our lead nine minutes before the interval.

Midfielder Wellspring forced goalkeeper Lucas Alvarado into a good save moments later, but was on hand less than three minutes into the second period to make it 3-0, ramming home at the back post after a dangerous low delivery from the left by Joel Vidal-Philbert. And two minutes after that, we killed the game off completely with a fourth goal, Oscar Sandiford’s excellent raking cross from the right steered home in the middle by Boast, despite the ball coming to him at an awkward angle.

Muslika was denied a hat-trick when his header back towards goal in the wake of Vidal-Philbert’s saved shot was cleared off the line by Munikwa, but we suffered a blow when left-back George Jobling was adjudged to have tripped Aaron Goodson in our box and a penalty was given, Wilkes making no mistake from 12 yards with 62 minutes played.

We got straight back on the front foot, though, and scored a penalty of our own two minutes later, Boast firing in after Muslika was fouled, with Norwich subsequently penned back inside their own box as we mounted sustained pressure, Muslika teasing a first-time shot just over and Conall Glancy’s top-corner bound effort impressively tipped away by Alvarado, who then kept out another attempt from Wellspring on his line.

Courtney Coffi Smith’s dazzling runs in from the left were causing the hosts all sorts of problems and he fashioned some late attempts at goal while fellow substitute Kabongolo went close a couple of times before deservedly opening his Under-18 Premier League account with three minutes remaining, sweeping in from Phoenix Offiah’s low cut-back from the left to round off another emphatic win.

‘The first 20 minutes were disappointing’

Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr was disappointed with elements of the first half but felt we improved after the break. He reflected: “We found it difficult in the first 20 minutes or so, just to get a grip of what we were playing against and after that, we showed some pleasing bits, although in the first half from open play we didn’t have enough cutting edge, so when we worked the ball to our eight and 10, for example, we never really had the correct pass or we didn’t feed our wingers in the right way, which ultimately meant that without two really good set-play goals we would have been level in the game. Credit to Armend because he stepped up for both the free-kick and also from the corner to come up with the goods.

“In the second half, the team in general used the number nine better which was pleasing and also we pushed the wingers on providing more for the team in the second period, because we had so many good moments but didn’t cut them open often enough, so credit to those guys as well – they helped us create a lot of chances in the second half and arguably we could have had a few more goals in the end.

“I would say the first 20 minutes were disappointing and there were some parts of the first half in general that were disappointing, but overall the reaction was good from everyone at half-time and you could see that the boys were trying to implement bits that we felt would make a difference. Generally the quality in the final third was better in the second half and that resulted in more goals, which was pleasing.”

Attention now turns to the Under-18 Premier League Cup, with our first of three group stage matches coming up away to Derby County on Wednesday (1pm BST).

Line-up

Spurs: Jack, Sandiford, Jobling, Hanson, Tingey (c) (Thomas 59), Wellspring, Salter (Kabongolo 68), Glancy (Agyekum 79), Boast (Offiah 68), Muslika, Vidal-Philbert (Coffi Smith 59). Substitutes (not used): Doran, Philogene-Bidace.