Bloxham eyes more goals after big FA Youth Cup win

Tom Bloxham says our Under-18s’ big FA Youth Cup win over West Brom has only made the team hungrier for more.

The 16-year-old attacking midfielder enjoyed a productive afternoon in the final third at Hotspur Way on Friday, playing a key part in the build-up to three of our first four goals before scoring twice himself in the closing stages to round off a terrific 6-1 fourth-round victory.

Having beaten Ipswich Town 5-1 just before Christmas, we now go on to face Wolves away in round five, where Tom insists we’ll be looking for more of the same.

“I thought we were good throughout against West Brom. Defensively we were solid and their one goal came from a penalty, so although we’re a bit disappointed not to have kept a clean sheet, I think 6-1 was fair – and we had more chances as well,” he explained.

“They’ve made it into a physical battle when we’ve played them before, but this time we competed early on and then turned it into a technical battle and just passed it around them. We know we have a good team so it was about getting on the ball and expressing ourselves. If we compete, then we know we have the ability on the ball and you could see towards the end that they were finding it tough as we moved the ball well and quickly.

“Everyone is buzzing with the result and we’re obviously looking forward to the game at Wolves now, where there are shirts up for grabs. In training, we need to work hard and make sure that we get ready for the next game – hopefully it will be a good trip to Wolves and we can do the same again.”

Having featured regularly off the bench during the opening months of the season, Tom started a league game for the first time in December and has now scored four goals in our last three matches at Under-18 level, following his recent strikes against Arsenal and Southampton.

“On a personal note, I’m happy to score two goals and be involved in three of the others against West Brom – it feels good to have been scoring goals recently and we’ve had two wins in those games as well, so it feels like they were important goals which contributed something to the team overall,” he added.

“My target now is just to keep scoring goals, get more assists, keep winning in the league and progress further in the Youth Cup – I want to help the team as much as I can.”