Reading U18s 3-2 Spurs - John's verdict

John McDermott has urged our Under-18s to learn from Saturday’s defeat at Reading.

Goals from Daniel Akindayini and Anton Walkes saw us go in at half-time 2-0 up, but a host of missed chances after the restart cost us dearly as the Royals mounted a comeback to win the game 3-2.

Academy Manager John believed the lads were ‘naive’ at times, but he preferred to focus on the positive aspects of the performance.

“I went home on Saturday upset because we’d lost, but when I look back we did an awful lot to a very high level,” John said.

“We were a little bit sloppy on defending set plays but I think it’s a good learning exercise for some of the younger boys. We will play against some teams who spend an awful lot of time on set plays and it’s something that you’ve got to respect, and we’ve got to do our jobs a little bit better.

“We spoke at half-time about how the next goal could be critical and we had an abundance of chances to score that third goal, but a combination of the post, some great saves from their keeper and maybe us not being clinical or clever enough on our finishing made us pay.

“Overall I was pleased with some of the quality and the imagination of our players, but we maybe just showed a bit of naivety at times.”