Spurs 2-0 Wolves (FAYC) - Kieran's verdict

Kieran McKenna was impressed by the levels of resilience shown by our Academy players as they dispatched Wolves 2-0 in the FA Youth Cup on Thursday evening.

Playing their first match back on home soil after returning from tournaments in Florida and Malaysia, our youngsters quickly hit their stride with goals from Ismail Azzaoui and Kyle Walker-Peters deciding the Fourth Round tie in our favour.

It was a tough match against a tricky Wolves side, with Under-18s Coach Kieran pleased with the way the players applied themselves.

“Fair play to Wolves, they came here and competed really well and played some good football so it made for a really tough game,” said Kieran after the match at Dagenham & Redbridge.

“We said before the game that the players would need to adapt as they came back into an English-style game and I think they did that really well. The boys showed a different side to their game in terms of resilience – something that we’ve been looking for – and obviously we scored two really good goals so it was a pleasing night.”

Our clean sheet was also highlighted by Kieran as a positive, along with the performances of a number of individuals.

“Japhet Tanganga, who is 15, came in and was outstanding at centre-half so hopefully that will give him the confidence to kick on again,” he added.

“In fact the whole defensive unit and goalkeeper were very strong, they limited Wolves to very few shots on goal and the forward players such as Ismail and Anthony Georgiou were a good threat. Those two linked up well for our first goal and while there’s lots to improve on, there were a number of positives from the game.”