Under-19s strike early and late against PSV

Malachi Walcott was influential at both ends as we picked up a crucial 2-0 win at home to PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Youth League on Tuesday lunchtime.

The 16-year-old centre-back powered home an early header from a corner and then made a goal-saving block three yards out to deny Sekou Sidibe later in the first half in what was an assured performance alongside TJ Eyoma in the heart of our defence. Goalkeeper and captain Brandon Austin also pulled off a couple of top-drawer saves in the first period, capping another fine outing for him in the Under-19 competition, with striker Troy Parrott sweeping home our second on the counter-attack in added time after we'd held a firm grip on the game since the interval.

The result sees us leapfrog Ruud van Nistelrooy's team into second place in Group B with six points, having drawn our first three games this term.

After controlling much of the game in Eindhoven a fortnight ago, only to come away with a 2-2 draw, we took the early initiative with Walcott rising highest in the box to head Jamie Bowden’s corner past goalkeeper Kyan van Dorp just five minutes in.

We seemed to lose some of our intensity after that, allowing PSV into the game, and it was two good saves from Austin in as many minutes that prevented them from grabbing an equaliser, the keeper first making an acrobatic save to turn Nigel Thomas’ free-kick behind and then getting both hands down to his right to beat away Joel Piroe’s effort from a corner inside 20 minutes.

Paris Maghoma’s speculative shot from range dipped just wide as we started to regain control of the play but the visitors were always a threat and had a golden chance to level on 43 minutes when Yorbe Vertessen drilled low into the box from the right and the ball broke kindly for Sidibe who looked destined to score from the left angle, but Walcott hurled his body into the danger zone, right in the goal mouth, to make a superb block. Austin denied Vertessen from a similar position two minutes later as we maintained our slender lead going into the break.

The second half was a different story – clear chances were few and far between but we kept PSV very much at arm’s length in midfield. They threw on our former Under-16s midfielder Noni Madueke shortly before the hour mark, but he hardly had a look-in as our own midfield substitute, Tashan Oakley-Boothe, contributed to a strong performance through the middle of the pitch, spearheaded by some diligent hold-up play by Parrott at centre-forward.

PSV’s only real chance of the second period came and went on 88 minutes when Vertessen peeled away from his closest defender and tried a shot from the left angle as he approached the box, but the ball curled away from goal and behind. Moments later, in the second minute of stoppage time, we sealed the deal with a quick break after Harvey White got the first contact on a PSV free-kick, Bennett putting the burners on to tear away down the left before playing low into the centre for the onrushing Parrott to convert.

Key moment

Walcott was responsible for giving us an early lead, but it was at the other end where he produced a crucial intervention to keep us ahead in the lead-up to half-time.

After the ball broke to Sidibe inside the box with 43 minutes on the watch, the young defender made a fantastic block in the goalmouth to keep PSV at bay. Austin’s stops were also impressive, but Walcott denied the visitors in their biggest opportunity.

“Malachi played really well and Brandon Austin was superb too,” said coach Matt Wells. “Malachi’s block was a massive moment and thankfully he was one of the players who stayed really alert defensively but it’s no surprise to me because I’ve seen him do that – he’s practiced that by dedicating himself in training. It was great for him to get the goal but more important was what he did at the other end to keep his clean sheet.”

Coach’s view

Reflecting on the pattern of the game, Matt was unhappy with our first-half display after the early breakthrough but was more encouraged by what he saw after the restart.

“It was brilliant to score with a set-piece and with the exact movement that we’d worked on,” he said. “We knew we could create three men in the box against the way they defend and it was just going to be a matter of the delivery being good, but then I was really disappointed with the way we played after our goal – we lost our aggressiveness, our forward intent, PSV came into the game and we didn’t use the ball well enough, didn’t play with enough personality. I didn’t think it represented our identity in the first half but after that we won a lot more second balls, we won a lot more duels and that contributed to the clean sheet, then we finished it off with a brilliant counter-attacking goal so I was really pleased in the end.”

Expanding on the second-half performance, Matt continued: “There was definitely a change of attitude and intensity. I still don’t believe we hit the levels that we’ve hit in the previous UEFA Youth League games but I said at half-time that if we delivered the same first-half performance in the second period we could have drawn or lost the game. Thankfully half-time came at a brilliant time for us and credit to the boys, they delivered more of what we wanted in the second half and I felt we always had PSV at arm’s length, without being at our attacking best.”

Match data

Goals: Spurs - Walcott 5, Parrott 90+2.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Brown 36, Bennett 90+1; PSV - Sadilek 48, Zeegers 87.

Referee: Ian McNabb (NIR).

Venue: Hotspur Way, Enfield.

Weather: Cloudy, 14 degrees.

Attendance: 253.