Under-18s see off Norwich

Our Under-18s made it three consecutive wins and clean sheets after seeing off Norwich City 3-0 at Hotspur Way on Saturday morning.

Leading early through a fabulous long-range strike from captain Tye Hall, we squandered a handful of further first-half openings and found it tough going in patches after the restart.

But the dismissal of Norwich right-back Rio Mundle for a second bookable offence with 20 minutes left gave us an opportunity to increase our advantage and in the end it was our substitutes who made the difference in attack, Ollie Salter stepping off the bench to open his Under-18 Premier League account before fellow sub Ezra Agyekum set up Oliver Boast to complete the scoring in stoppage time.

The result saw us move back level with leaders Chelsea at the top of the table – although the Blues have played three fewer matches – and continued our momentum ahead of Thursday night’s Under-18 Premier League Cup quarter-final at Bristol City.

Boast was relentless in his pressing at centre-forward and it was his commitment to pressurise goalkeeper Henry Bullen and then chase down a stray ball that led to the opening goal on eight minutes. After Norwich had almost scored themselves, Boast pressed on the counter-attack and the ball was eventually worked to Ronny Moncur, who set up Hall to score with a great strike from 20 yards out.

Leon Myrtaj shot wide under pressure while Moncur saw his angled drive blocked, before Harry Byrne and then Miracle Adewole went close in the wake of an indirect free-kick, awarded after Bullen was forced to save Takudzwa Gwanzura’s lofted, goal-bound backpass. The latter was perhaps fortunate to have escaped with only a yellow card moments earlier following his challenge on Myrtaj, but as the first half drew to a close we were left scratching our heads as to how we were only one goal to the good.

Norwich showed their attacking threats when Ben Tree’s low shot was tipped away by Blake Irow, but the game became something of a midfield battle until Mundle – a former Spurs youngster and brother of our ex-Academy player Romaine Mundle – fouled the marauding Salter and was shown a second yellow card in the 70th minute.

That gave us the impetus to push forward more and after Bullen denied Salter and fellow substitute George Feeney in quick succession, Salter picked out the bottom corner with a low curler to double our lead eight minutes from time. Oscar Sandiford arrowed a shot just off-target while Cameron Thomas’ sweeping low effort hit the far post before we rounded off the scoring in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Agyekum advancing down the left and crossing for the arriving Boast, who converted at the near post for his ninth Under-18 goal of the season.

Reaction on SPURSPLAY

‘The game changed when they had a man sent off’

Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr was pleased with the result, but admitted to having mixed feelings on the way the game panned out. He told SPURSPLAY: “In the first half we probably lacked a little bit of a cutting edge in the final third – that was the message at half-time, considering the amount of control we had in the game. In the second half, the game changed when they had a man sent off, it opened up slightly and we began to show a little bit more quality in front of goal. Whether that was an overlap from Ezra (Agyekum) or positioning in the box from Ollie Boast, those things started to improve, which was pleasing.”

Jamie also praised our four substitutes for their impact on the game in the latter stages: “On reflection, that’s probably the most pleasing part of today as a whole,” he added. “I think the subs have shown a brilliant attitude throughout every game that I’ve been involved in so far and for them all to come on and play a part and make an impact on the game today was brilliant to see, particularly after a tough time over the last couple of weeks with some players not always being involved, so to turn up right, be professional and make an impact has been really nice to see.”