Parrott brace gives Under-18s a big win at Chelsea

A well-taken double from Troy Parrott gave our Under-18s a 2-0 victory at Chelsea on Wednesday lunchtime and took the race for the title down to the final day.

The young marksman, playing his third game in five days since returning from injury, having come off the bench for the Under-23s on Monday night, slotted home inside a quarter-of-an-hour after expertly controlling Dilan Markanday’s through ball before curling home a fine free-kick in the second half. He also hit the woodwork twice, while captain Armando Shashoua and Markanday saw good chances go begging earlier in the contest at Cobham.

It was a hard-working display from the whole team, although we had to hang on in the closing stages after young right-back Dermi Lusala – up from the Under-16s for his debut at this level – hauled down Thierno Ballo as the last defender and was sent off.

The result leaves us a point behind Under-18 Premier League southern division leaders Arsenal with one game each still to play. We host Leicester on Saturday 27 April while the Gunners go to Fulham – one of only three teams we’ve dropped points against this term – on the same day.

Both goalkeepers had to make early saves before we took the lead on 15 minutes, Parrott taking Markanday’s pass under his spell before converting tidily from the left angle. Shashoua might have doubled our tally nine minutes later following a magnificent weaving run into the box but Chelsea goalkeeper Jake Askew saved with his legs, while Markanday headed wide from Parrott’s cross just after the half-hour mark.

Jamie Bowden enjoyed a solid outing in central midfield on his return from a spell on the sidelines while the centre-back duo of Jubril Okedina and Brooklyn Lyons-Foster defended valiantly throughout. Maurizio Pochettino and Bowden saw chances slip away early in the second half before Parrott latched onto another Markanday through ball on 54 minutes, only to see his shot hit the far post. Three minutes later, the striker’s cross from the left bounced off the top of the crossbar as we kept the pressure on.

The always important second goal arrived on 62 minutes. With Markanday bundled over just outside the box, Parrott stepped up to curl the free-kick over the wall and into the net. Jonathan De Bie saved goal-bound efforts from Marcel Lewis and substitute George Nunn later in the game and although things became a bit scrappy, exacerbated by the straight red shown to Lusala with 11 minutes remaining, we kept the door closed to claim a well-deserved win.

Key moment

Both teams had chances to take the lead early on, but Parrott’s opening goal after 15 minutes gave us the platform on which to build another very good victory. We controlled the game from that point onwards and ensured Chelsea were kept at bay in what is always a particularly tough fixture.

Coach’s view

Head of Academy Coaching and Player Development John McDermott used some words he picked up from one of the most iconic players in our history in his assessment of the game: “I admire Steve Perryman as the Tottenham captain for so many years and he used to have a saying about ‘proper’ players and performances. I’ve just said to the boys that I’d describe today as a proper performance – Steve would use that as a real compliment,” he said. “We played some very attractive, open football, we were very tough at times, towards the end it was a little bit ugly but we showed that we’ve learned after the Arsenal game in terms of playing with 10 men. These aren’t ‘proper’ players yet, they’ve got a lot to do but they showed so much positive intent and I was really proud of them today.

“Dilan (Markanday) is in a good place at the moment and he’s got to try to sustain that next year. Troy has been unfortunate, he’s had some time out and I thought he maybe looked a bit rusty at Villa the other day but it looks like he’s finding his rhythm and I was pleased for him today. There were times where he contained their three centre-halves and gave them a real run for their money so I was pleased with those two but I thought everybody today, from Jonathan De Bie coming in to play in goal, Dermi (Lusala) coming in quite late to make his debut in an unbelievably tough game and every other individual that contributed… I was very proud of them.”

John underlined how the players can’t look forward to the final day title battle just yet, with two crucial games on the horizon for the Under-23s in their battle to avoid relegation: “There’s three games to go,” he said. “At the moment we’re working off of one group of players contributing to two squads. We’ve got two Under-23 games and the next big game is at Swansea away on Monday. Some of these boys will be involved in it and although we do play Leicester on 27 April, we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. There’s two big games coming up for the Under-23s that everybody – staff and players – need to contribute to.”