Under-18s battle out 2-2 draw with Arsenal

Our Under-18s’ latest north London derby had a bit of everything, but ultimately ended all square at Hotspur Way on Saturday morning.

Both sides led at different stages of the contest and had players sent off – we finished with 10 men and Arsenal with nine – but ultimately neither team was able to put the other to the sword in new Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr’s first match in charge.

The Gunners had gone in front early through Ceadach O’Neill following a mistake at the back, but we turned the game on its head through a clever free-kick and subsequent penalty from Luca Williams-Barnett. Teshaun Murisa levelled for the visitors, moments before a melee saw George Feeney and Arsenal defender Marli Salmon red carded.

Tye Hall hit the bar as the battle continued with 10 men apiece in driving rain, before Gunners full-back Josiah King was shown a second yellow card as we entered stoppage time, giving us a real opportunity to turn the screw in search of a winner. One almost arrived in the last few seconds when Hall played in substitute Armend Muslika, but his excellent shot from the left angle crashed off the underside of the crossbar, leaving us with a sense of frustration as the game ended 2-2.

We gifted Arsenal the lead inside six minutes when Malachi Hardy’s pass out from the back was pounced on and O’Neill fired past Dylan Thompson, while only a superb defensive block from Tyler Tingey prevented the Gunners from stretching their advantage.

Williams-Barnett, playing his first Under-18s game of the season after largely featuring for the Under-21s so far this term, produced a couple of dazzling individual moments in the first half and it was the attacking midfielder who fired us level with a smart low free-kick on 38 minutes after hard-working centre-forward Reiss Elliott-Parris had been brought down 22 yards out.

Visiting defender Callan Hamill sent a header from a corner flying over the bar in first-half stoppage time but was guilty of bringing down the determined Oliver Boast inside Arsenal’s box two minutes after the restart, allowing Williams-Barnett to send goalkeeper Jack Porter the wrong way from the spot and give us the upper hand. Our rivals hit back six minutes later, though, Murisa sending a deflected shot from 20 yards spinning high into the net after we failed to clear our lines from a wide free-kick.

The game changed on 57 minutes when both sides were reduced to 10 men, Feeney and Salmon shown straight red cards after clashing in the middle of the pitch, leading to a coming-together between several players. Substitutions by both coaches freshened things up and after a great run from one of our replacements, Muslika, it was midfielder Hall whose effort struck the crossbar with 18 minutes remaining.

King picked up two cautions within 11 minutes of each other and was sent off as regulation time concluded, reducing our opponents to nine men and giving us a real lift as we hunted a late winner. Eyes lit up around the pitch when Hall played in Muslika with just seconds remaining, but his excellent angled strike hit agonisingly came down off the crossbar and Arsenal escaped with a point.

Reaction on SPURSPLAY

‘A game that had everything’

With a number of players involved in the UEFA Youth League match against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, new coach Jamie hasn’t been able to work with the whole group for much of the week and therefore felt the game taught him a lot about our youngsters’ characteristics.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY afterwards, he said: “It was a game that had everything. We had some periods of the game where we dominated, looked good on the ball, created some good moments and created some good chances, particularly in the second half where we’ve hit the bar a couple of times. It had sendings-off, competitive tackles – everything that you’d want a derby game to have.

“I’m now asking the players for a little bit more quality in the final third and we probably go on to win that game. There’s some more things for us to work on and think about over the next couple of days, but for my first week it was an unbelievable opportunity to see the players in a competitive environment. As an Academy, we want to stretch the boys as much as we can, so for them to play in this sort of game where there’s a little bit of pressure and emotion is good, and it was certainly good for me to learn a lot about the lads today.”