Spurs 0-2 Norwich U21s - Ugo's verdict

Ugo Ehiogu had praise for two debutants but felt our Under-21s missed the presence of a regular centre-half as Norwich won a physical encounter 2-0 in the Barclays U21 Premier League at the Training Centre on Monday.

The team lined-up without Bongani Khumalo, skipper for the last seven matches now on loan at Coventry and fellow loanee Dominic Ball, currently at Cambridge United, while Cameron Carter-Vickers is set to line-up for our Under-18s in the FA Youth Cup semi-final, second leg at Chelsea on Wednesday night.

That meant a makeshift central defensive pairing of full-back Alex McQueen and midfielder Filip Lesniak and the Canaries took the points with a goal in each half from corners.

Coach Ugo made six changes from Monday’s draw at Old Trafford with Grant Ward and Shaq Coulthirst also now out on loan. Josh Onomah is also set for Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

First Year Academy trainees Chris Paul and Armani Daly, both 17, stepped off the bench for their debuts, Chris entering the fray early after an unfortunate injury to midfielder Aaron McEneff.

“Everyone says goals make a difference, and they do,” said Ugo. “The disappointment was that we spoke about the small details, spoke about the other side of the game and we take for granted central defenders who can head the ball from a goal-kick or a corner and we didn’t have anyone dominant in that respect.

“It just shows that if a Norwich player wins that first header, it leads to all sorts of problems and that’s what happened when they had set-pieces.

“There were positives for us as well. I thought Chris Paul did well after his early introduction and our thoughts go out to Aaron, we hope he’s well and it’s not too serious, Armani Daly also did well when he came on and Will Miller did okay.

“It was the first time we didn’t show that real intensity. After playing United at Old Trafford we had to make sure we were right on it and we weren’t today. I take a bit of the blame for that as well.”