Derby disappointment for Under-23s

Goals either side of half-time from Joe Willock and Tyreece John-Jules saw our Under-23s defeated 2-1 in a Premier League 2 north London derby at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night.

Sadly, our young charges never hit top gear under the lights and, although backed by a vocal away following, struggled even more in the closing stages when a penalty decision went Arsenal's way and young striker Troy Parrott was sent off in an unrelated incident.

Goalkeeper Brandon Austin, who put in a good performance on his first start of the season, saved Charlie Gilmour's spot kick but with the numbers against us late on, there was no way back, Jaden Brown's injury-time strike merely a consolation.

Willock made us pay for a poor start when he fired into the top corner from 10 yards in only the third minute after James Olayinka's low ball in from the left wasn't dealt with and was touched on into the attacker's path.

We had to take the game by the scruff of the neck but while we saw plenty of the ball for the remainder of the first period, the supply line to Parrott was stunted. Centre-back Japhet Tanganga's diving header inside his own box denied Emile Smith-Rowe while goalkeeper Austin saved well from Xavier Amaechi and Willock, the latter having gone through on goal down the middle in the 34th minute.

Our best move of the half came just before the break as Tanganga's pass split the midfield straight down the middle and found Shayon Harrison. He turned well and looked for Parrott, but Martinez was out quickly to clear. Smith-Rowe rounded a committed Austin wide on Arsenal's left in added time but couldn't make the most of the opportunity.

The introduction of lively Under-18s winger J'Neil Bennett at the break gave us an early spark on the restart but he, like youth team colleague Parrott, didn't see much of the ball as the game progressed with the battle largely played out in the middle of the park.

Smith-Rowe's curler from range hit the post before John-Jules made it 2-0 just prior to the hour mark. TJ Eyoma made a great tackle from behind on Amaechi in the box but the ball ran loose and eventually fell kindly for the Arsenal centre-forward to hammer in from 18 yards.

Substitute Bukayo Saka was a threat with his pace down Arsenal's left but when Tanganga came sliding across to dispossess him in the box, referee Adrian Quelch gave a penalty. Gilmour took it right-footed, but Austin beat it away down to his right with 79 minutes gone.

A late challenge on Roles saw both sets of players clash on half-way five minutes later, Parrott shown a straight red card for his part in the scuffle with two Gunners players booked. John-Jules and Amaechi nearly compounded our misery, but good work by Oliver Skipp and Harrison to unpick a congested defence saw left-back Brown sprung in behind to score from the angle for us in the fourth minute of added time. It made no difference to the mood, however, on a disappointing night across north London.

Key moment

Arsenal made a much better start to the game and by taking the lead so early through Willock, they immediately gave us a challenge to get back into the game. The required response never materialised, allowing the Gunners to go on and win.

Under-23s Coach Wayne Burnett was not impressed: “To come to your local rivals and get beaten like that is bitterly disappointing,” he said. “We spoke about what a north London derby is like with the passion, pride, belief and all the things that are not technical or tactical but we didn’t show that enough. There were some people who came out in credit but there were some who came out with no credit whatsoever and if I’m being brutally honest, 2-1 flattered us.

“The game is over, we’ll have to analyse it and move forward from there, but there are some people who haven’t done themselves justice tonight and I feel let down by one or two of them.”

Match data

Goals: Arsenal - Willock 3, John-Jules 58; Spurs - Brown 90+4.

Yellow cards: Arsenal - Bola 84, Pleguezuelo 84, Burton 90+6; Spurs - Brown 56, Roles 73.

Red card: Spurs - Parrott 84.

Referee: Adrian Quelch.

Venue: Emirates Stadium.

Attendance: 1,422.

Weather: Partly cloudy, gentle breeze, 11 degrees.