Russell-Denny, Kyerematen score as Under-21s beat Stoke at bet365 Stadium

Our Under-21s were victorious for the first time since the turn of the year on Friday night, beating Stoke City 2-1 in our second Premier League 2 fixture after the winter break.

Wayne Burnett's side leapfrogged the Potters with the win at the bet365 Stadium, moving up to seventh in the 29-team league table.

We took the lead after just four minutes through Reiss Russell-Denny after a neat move by Luca Williams-Barnett and Tynan Thompson, heading into the break with a 1-0 lead.

Stoke pulled level in the 56th minute through an impressive free-kick by Chinonso Chibueze, but substitute Rio Kyerematen secured all three points with a winner with 12 minutes to play.

It was the perfect start, opening the scoring with our first attacking move of the game through Russell-Denny. Williams-Barnett received the ball inside our half and used some trickery to find space and travel over the half-way line, where he spotted Thompson. He beat his marker to the byline before turning and finding Russell-Denny in the centre of the penalty area, who calmly slotted home.

After the early goal, we controlled the first half, but had to be alert to a series of Stoke counter-attacks. The Potters' first chance of the game came through Chibueze, who tested Luca Gunter from distance in the eighth minute, which the goalkeeper had covered, shuffling to his right to get down and smother the bouncing ball.

Gunter was then called into action again, being required to punch a dangerous-looking Stoke corner out for another, which was headed well wide by Lewis Bailey.

Our best chance of doubling our lead before the break came through Ellis Lehane, who saw a strike pushed out for a corner after 38 minutes. The chance came from a mistake by Stoke goalkeeper Caleb Clothier, who rushed a ball upfield and kicked it straight at James Rowswell, who reacted quickly to push the ball over the top of the Stoke defence to Lehane. The striker took the ball on the right-hand side and moved inside to have a shot at goal, forcing Clothier into an impressive diving save to his left to set up the first of four corners in quick succession. Williams-Barnett came closest from the third of the four balls into the area, seeing a teasing shot from the left-hand side of the area blocked in the 40th minute.

The hosts were presented with a chance to draw level 10 minutes into the second half when Alfie Dorrington - playing his first game in our colours this season after spending the first half of the campaign on loan at Aberdeen - was penalised for a foul on half-time substitute Tyler Martin on the edge of the penalty area. Chibueze took that opportunity and punished us by sending a fine free-kick into the top left corner.

Williams-Barnett came close to restoring the lead after 62 minutes from a free-kick of our own, going short to Russell-Denny, who laid off the attacking midfielder for a shot at goal, which forced Clothier to get down to his right to push the ball out for a corner.

We made three changes after 67 minutes in search of a winner. Reiss Elliott-Parris was introduced in attack in place of Lehane, while Max McFadden and Kyerematen came into the midfield for Williams-Barnett and Matthew Craig, who marked his return to action after a long spell out with a serious knee injury.

The substitutions proved to be the finishing touch as we controlled the game in the closing stages and found a winner with 12 minutes to play. Elliott-Parris came close to making an immediate impact, getting on the end of a great move which was started by an overlapping Dorrington, seeing his shot from close range from the defender's cross impressively turned behind after 74 minutes. But it wasn't long after that Kyerematen wrapped up all three points, getting to the back post to push Russell-Denny's low cross into the back of the net.

‘We got into some really good areas’

After a great opportunity to test his players in a high-profile stadium, Coach Wayne was delighted to come away with maximum points.

“I think it’s nice when we can come to first team stadiums – the players enjoy it and they certainly looked like they enjoyed it this evening,” he said.

“I thought we played some really good football at times. Both of our goals were decent goals. I felt that some of our movement was really good, we got into some really good areas but probably didn’t capitalise on that enough. We took up some really good positions and looked threatening – it was just that final ball on occasion that we didn’t capitalise on.”

Wayne was also thrilled to see midfielder Craig come through his return match with no problems after such a long injury lay-off: “He’s a player that we’ve had for some time. Unfortunately he got injured, this is his first game back and we’re absolutely delighted that he’s come through it,” he said. “I thought his performance was very good – he was calm and assured, which he always is, but more importantly, he came through 67 minutes with no problems, which is great to see.”

Watch highlights on SPURSPLAY

Match data

Goals: Stoke City - Chibueze 56; Spurs - Russell-Denny 4, Kyerematen 78.

Yellow cards: Stoke City - Nzau 88; Spurs - King 36.

Referee: Richard Aspinall.

Venue: bet365 Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent.

Weather: Clear skies with wind, six degrees.