Under-21s lose at Palace as league enters play-off phase

A much-changed Under-21s side ended the Premier League 2 regulation campaign in defeat at Crystal Palace on Monday night.

Former Spurs Academy player Roshaun Mathurin put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot on 26 minutes before Jesurin Rak-Sakyi netted a first-half brace to give Palace a deserved lead at the break. Vonnte Williams then made it four moments after the restart with Rak-Sakyi completing his hat-trick on the hour mark to round off the scoreline.

Having already secured top spot in the league with victory away to Fulham last time out, we now head into the competition’s play-offs phase with a last-16 home tie against 16th-placed side Aston Villa.

Given the short turnaround from the Fulham game three days prior and one eye on Thursday night’s Premier League Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest, the match at Sutton United's VBS Community Stadium provided an opportunity for Under-21s coach Wayne Burnett to name a rotated side, giving a number of players valuable minutes.

Palace, however, did have something to play for as they looked to move up as many league positions as possible to get a more favourable draw in the play-offs. That extra motivation showed in the contest as the home side looked to impose their game on our young side, Rak-Sakyi showing ominous signs of what was to come when he forced a smart stop out of Luca Gunter from close range five minutes in.

Despite our side enjoying the majority of possession in the opening quarter of the contest, the home side looked more threatening in the final third with Noah Watson and Dan Imray squandering good chances as we struggled to cope with their direct and physical style. The warning signs were there and, just after Rio Kyerematen had fired over from 25 yards for our first shot on 24 minutes, the Eagles were awarded a penalty two minutes later when Imray latched onto a looped through-ball in behind only to be clipped by a recovering Jahziah Linton inside the area, with Mathurin stepping up to break the deadlock from 12 yards.

Between Rak-Sakyi and wing-back Imray, the hosts carried a real threat down their right throughout and the pair combined to double their advantage just after the half-hour mark. A slight mishap between Linton and Maeson King allowed the forward to capitalise and, after a neat one-two with his teammate, managed to squeeze the ball past Gunter into the far corner.

We almost found a response three minutes later with our first shot on target. Yusuf Akhamrich, brought into the starting lineup after a substitute appearance at Fulham, combined nicely with Jude Soonsup-Bell in the box before forcing Palace captain Joe Whitworth into his first save of the match with a fierce left-footed drive on the angle.

Akhamrich, also playing his third match for our Academy in four days, showed great energy and endeavour at right wing to force our solitary corner five minutes before the interval which was claimed by Whitworth. As Palace sprung a quick counter-attack from the resulting set piece, Under-18s defender King, making his second successive start at this level, was forced into two superb defensive interventions to twice deny Rak-Sakyi, but the forward soon made it three when he capitalised on Will Andiyapan's under-hit back pass on the stroke of half-time.

Burnett made a triple change at the interval, handing Under-21s debuts to Archie Baptiste and Callum Olusesi and bringing on Damola Ajayi as he also changed formation to a back four as King, Nile John and Kyerematen made way. However, only a matter of seconds after the restart, Palace made it four after a simple long ball over the top and their speed on the break caused problems. Once again, Imray was played in down the right before squaring to Williams who tapped in at the back stick despite captain Tyrell Ashcroft's best attempts to clear.

Shortly after substitute Ajayi forced Whitworth into a diving save at one end as we neared the hour mark, Palace again immediately hit us on the break to force the impressive Gunter into a smart diving stop but our goalkeeper could do nothing to prevent Rak-Sakyi claiming his hat-trick on 60 minutes. This time, David Ozoh burst clear of our defence and played a dangerous, low cross across the six-yard box from the right to his onrushing forward who tapped in from close range.

Looking to salvage something from the game, two minutes later Jaden Williams had claims for a penalty waved away after he skipped away from two defenders on the byline and went down under pressure from Watson inside the box, before the tenacious Ajayi again worked Palace's keeper with a header straight at their skipper. With little cutting edge in our attack in a rare blank for this Academy side, at the other end we have the in-form Gunter to thank for restricting the hosts as he produced a string of fine saves in the closing stages to keep it to five.

With regular starters rested tonight and the playing squad making it through unscathed in south London, full focus now shifts to our cup semi-final clash against Forest under the lights at the Lamex Stadium on Thursday night (kick-off 7pm UK) as our Under-21s look to cap a superb 2023/24 season with silverware.

Match data

Goals: Crystal Palace - Mathurin 26, Rak-Sakyi 31, 44, 60, Williams 46.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Linton 9, Baptiste 54.

Referee: Stephen Parkinson.

Venue: VBS Community Stadium.

Weather: Dry, mild, sunny, 14 degrees.