Under-18s score six against Seagulls

Stunning goals from Paris Maghoma and J’Neil Bennett capped an opening-day goal-fest for our Under-18s at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.

Despite playing well for most of the game, we found ourselves 2-0 and 3-1 down in the first half of a dramatic Under-18 Premier League contest at Hotspur Way.

But after debutant Luis Binks’ back-post header was deemed to have crossed the line, a quickfire double from Troy Parrott saw us go in level at 3-3 at the break.

There followed a blistering 20-minute spell of near-relentless pressure from our players at the start of the second half, with two superb strikes sandwiching a goal from substitute Brooklyn Lyons-Foster with his first touch as we pressed home the advantage. Jayden Onen scored a controversial fourth for Brighton, but we held off any potential fightback to secure a 6-4 victory for coach Matt Wells in his first game in charge.

Goalkeeper Jonathan De Bie had made a great save from Onen’s header in the ninth minute, but the Brighton forward steered in the rebound before motoring away down the right flank and slotting in for 2-0 on 25 minutes.

Determined to respond, Binks rose at the back post to nod Phoenix Patterson’s cross down towards goal on 34 minutes. Brighton thought they’d cleared the ball off the line, but the match officials felt it had crept inside the post. A minute later, though, Albion had their two-goal lead back as Steff Vukoje crashed a shot in off the underside of the bar.

Dilan Markanday, Armando Shashoua and Paris Maghoma were buzzing around in the opponents’ half and the latter two combined with some neat footwork in the box, allowing Parrott to sweep home for 3-2 on 42 minutes. And three minutes into added time we were level as Maghoma’s cross hit the woodwork, the ball was recycled to Harvey White on the right and his cross was headed in by Parrott.

Maghoma produced a wonderful individual goal eight minutes after the restart to give us the lead for the first time in the game, skipping around challenge after challenge as he came in from the left before smacking into the top corner on his right foot from 14 yards out. Bennett’s effort was deflected onto the bar as we really put the pressure on and it was no surprise to see us get a fifth goal just after the hour mark as White’s cross was steered in by Lyons-Foster with a glancing header, less than two minutes after coming on.

Shashoua, who impressed with his dribbling and retention of the ball under pressure, set up Bennett to curl a sumptuous sixth into the top corner from the left-hand corner of the box on his right foot on 64 minutes and although Onen slotted into an empty net after Lyons-Foster appeared to be tripped in our box four minutes later, the result never looked in doubt after that.

Key moment

It would be easy to look at the trio of goals and the handful of other chances that went begging during those totally dominant opening 20 minutes of the second half as the turning point of the game.

However, coach Matt said Parrott’s brace in the latter stages of the first period was where it all began: “We came in at half-time at 3-3, so you’d probably look at the closing few minutes of the first half and say that the goals we got there were very important,” he said. “We could easily have come in 3-1 down and then we’ve got a more difficult second half, but certainly the first 20 minutes of the second half is the template – that’s how we need to play collectively and individually. We were aggressive out of possession and were a lot quicker and more aggressive in terms of our attacking, especially down the left-hand side with J’Neil, who was very direct and created a lot of chances.”

On where his side can improve, Matt continued: “There were two aspects that disappointed me – the team approach to defending could have been far better, especially higher up the pitch because we had a lot of midfielders in the side and we knew we had to get the approach right higher up, but I didn’t think we did that too well. Then we conceded some poor goals.

"We also have to improve how we finished the game. We looked leggy and tired, but only as a result of the way we tried to see the game out. On another day, possibly they could have come back into the game because of our lack of control, so there’s work to be done.”