WBA U18s 0-1 Spurs - John's verdict

It was very much a case for the defence as far as John McDermott was concerned after our Under-18s ran out victorious at West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday.

Daniel Akindayini’s 70th minute strike settled the match at the Baggies’ training ground, but a solid display from the centre-half pairing of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Anton Walkes – as well as Filip Lesniak in front of them – caught the eye of our Academy Manager after the 1-0 win.

“We’ve played West Brom a few times at this level and they’re extremely well organised, very difficult to break down and dangerous on the counter attack so I always thought it was going to be difficult,” John reflected.

“We had lots of possession and lots of territory without necessarily the players whose job it is to make and score goals being as effective as they should have been.

“I thought Cameron Carter-Vickers and Anton Walkes at the back played really, really well to give us that platform to try and keep probing.

“Filip Lesniak was excellent as well. He broke up all of their attacks and allowed the front players to try and get after them. It’s just a shame that maybe we didn’t exploit the possession as much as we could have done.”

John also reserved praise for Kyle Walker-Peters, who got forward on several occasions from his left-back berth before switching to the right side of the back four in the second half.

“Kyle played as a left-sided full-back and as a right-sided full-back today and if I was watching as a neutral I think I’d have found him eye-catching once again,” John added. “I was pleased with the players at the back today.”