Under-23s too slick for City

Paris Maghoma capped a superb display with a goal and an assist as we dispatched Manchester City Under-23s for our first win of the Premier League 2 season on Friday night.

The 17-year-old attacking midfielder was just too much for the visitors to handle and after setting up the equally hard-working Shayon Harrison to give us the lead, he doubled our tally with a confident finish inside half-an-hour at Stevenage's Lamex Stadium.

It was then the turn of his team-mates at the other end to shine as goalkeeper Brandon Austin pulled off a handful of impressive saves while Luis Binks, just turned 17, caught the eye in the heart of the defence, particularly during an assured second-half performance as our young charges, many of whom stood up so well to League Two side Crawley Town in the Checkatrade Trophy last week, saw out a 2-0 win.

There was a hunger about us from the off and although City had the pace to cause us problems, especially with Rabbi Matondo down the right, we kept the game under control and took our chances clinically.

Maghoma energetically pushed forward to support Harrison at centre-forward and the young midfielder might have had an early penalty when he latched onto the latter's cute back-heel and went to ground as he entered the area, but play continued.

The opener arrived on 21 minutes, right down the centre of the pitch. Maghoma bisected the City defence with a low through ball for Harrison to run onto and stroke past onrushing goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw. His opposite number, Austin, grew into the game and somehow clawed away Nabil Touaizi's effort down to his left after the City striker burst through down the left side of the box on 25 minutes.

After a spell of City pressure it was 2-0 just before the half-hour mark as Oliver Skipp's slide-rule pass was perfect for Maghoma to nudge the ball beyond the advancing Grimshaw and roll into the net from the right angle of the area. Jack Roles should have made it three moments later but Grimshaw made himself big to deny him from eight yards.

The second half began in the same fashion as Maghoma slalomed through the midfield and saw his curler saved, while Harrison got a slight touch on Jaden Brown's left-wing cross, steering it onto the back post. Maghoma dazzled once more in a slick move involving Brown mid-way through the half, only to fire over the bar, but we were indebted to Austin for getting both hands to the ball as he bravely dived at the feet of Touaizi with 17 minutes left.

Austin pulled off a couple of other low stops during the second period and with the defenders in front of him blocking shots maturely, we kept City at bay.

Key moment

It would be easy to point to the goals as key moments in the game, but it was a save from Austin shortly after Harrison’s opener that also had a big effect on the outcome.

Touaizi raced clear down the left side and looked odds on to make it 1-1, but Austin spread his body and reached down low to his left to turn the ball across towards the far side and away. Moments later, Maghoma made it 2-0 and we went on to claim all three points.

“Brandon pulled off a brilliant save at 1-0,” agreed Under-23s Coach Wayne Burnett. “Overall it was a really good team effort tonight and I’m pleased with everyone’s contributions. I was really pleased with our effort, our commitment and our willingness to run. We didn’t play as well as we can play with the ball but we know that and the players were open at the end of the game regarding that. But for effort, willingness and desire, I can’t applaud them enough.

“Collectively we were very good and so were the young players like Paris Maghoma and Luis Binks. I thought Paris was outstanding tonight, he showed some real good quality when he got on the ball, Luis showed maturity in his play but all round, there were some very good performances. The ball stuck with Shayon Harrison when it went up to him which was good and even though City probably had the larger share of possession, we had the more clear-cut chances.”

Match data

Goals: Spurs - Harrison 21, Maghoma 29.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Brown 40, Marsh 75; City - Dionkou 58.

Referee: Sam Purkiss.

Venue: Lamex Stadium, Stevenage.

Weather: Cloudy, moderate breeze, nine degrees.

Attendance: 637.