Under-23s progress after nine-goal thriller

Our Under-23s won a rollercoaster game against Athletic Club Bilbao to progress to the quarter-finals of the Premier League International Cup at Stevenage on Wednesday night.

The team started superbly to lead 2-0 through Vincent Janssen and Jack Roles but our Spanish visitors then clicked into gear and dominated the middle third of the game, scoring three times to lead 3-2.

That could have been that but we dug deep to turn the momentum back around at the Lamex Stadium. Roles claimed his second goal for 3-3 on 65 minutes, substitute Shilow Tracey blasted home for 4-3 on 82 and Anthony Georgiou's close-range finish on 86 put us (just) out of reach at 5-3. Typically of the night, Athletic managed to reduce arrears again, but that was that.

The result means we top Group C of the tournament, unbeaten against Athletic, Wolfsburg and Norwich City, to progress to the last eight.

You could almost split this game into three sections.

The first, between kick-off and 35 minutes, belonged to Spurs. Janssen opened the scoring on four minutes when Roles spotted his run across goal and threaded through an inch-perfect pass for the Dutchman to slide home from six yards.

Roles was then fouled just outside the box, picked himself up and curled a beauty over the wall into the corner - 15 minutes on the clock, 2-0, so far, so good. Shayon Harrison, back from injury, then came close to heading home for 3-0 on 35 minutes.

That chance signals the start of section two, between 38 and 64 minutes. Athletic Club had created chances but pulled a goal back through Asier Villalibre and proceeded to create another four chances before half-time, the best fired over by Jon Rojo from inside the six-yard box.

The second half started with a flourish from the Basque Country side. Jonathan De Bie saved well from Victor San Bartolome and then went one step better to keep out Inigo Vicente's penalty and Unai Vencedor's follow up. The goalkeeper then tipped over from Villalibre and tipped wide from Vicente - all inside 52 minutes.

The equaliser arrived via a defensive mix-up and Vicente's finish on the hour and four minutes later it was 3-2 as Bartolome drilled a sweet strike into the bottom corner from 20 yards.

So now to section three - and back to Spurs. Shifting momentum in football matches is tough, not least having gone from 2-0 up to 3-2 down, but our players did just that. The sixth goal on the night would prove crucial and Roles delivered again, just minutes after Athletic Club had made it 3-2. Roles jinked in from the left and kept his composure as the goal opened up in front of him, planting his shot home from 12 yards for 3-3.

The tide had turned again. Janssen's effort was blocked, Harrison hit the crossbar and on 82 minutes, substitute Shilow Tracey made an instant impact. Roles picked out his run from deep and Tracey burst into the box and hit a thunderbolt past Hodei Oleaga for 4-3.

Tracey was involved again as we made it 5-3 on 86 minutes, this time latching onto Janssen's pass down the right and firing low across goal for Georgiou to convert sliding in at the far post. Athletic Club had one more surge and Vicente made it 5-4 in added time, but we'd done enough.

Key moment

Where to start? Jonathan De Bie's penalty save on 47 minutes warrants a mention, but Athletic Club still scored twice in that spell to lead 3-2. So the key moment has to be Jack Roles' second goal to level the scores up again. Athletic Club had just come from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 and a fourth surely would have been too big a mountain to climb, even in this game. Roles, who played a part in four of our five goals, scoring twice, made sure the tide turned back in our favour. 

Coach's view

Wayne Burnett: "We started the game very well, went two goals up, could have been three but they go up the other end, score and it's 2-1 and we lost a little focus. We didn't start particularly well in the second half and suddenly we're 3-2 down. We showed real character because they had momentum but good play brought us back to 3-3. We then took control again and some of our quality showed through.

"I was really pleased with some of our performances. Dennis Cirkin did well, a young player who showed maturity. We showed real character to be able to pick ourselves up because at 3-2 down, the game could have gone the other way, but once we got back to 3-3 we were too strong for them.

"Overall, really pleased we won, pleased we're through to the next round but disappointed in the way we defended and the goals we conceded. We need to be better defensively if we want to win more football matches and the players are aware of that."

Match data

Goals: Spurs - Janssen 4, Roles 15, 65, Tracey 82, Georgiou 86; Athletic Bilbao - Villalibre 38, Vicente 60, 90+2, Bartolome 64.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Janssen 32; Athletic Bilbao - Larrazabal 34, Sillero 53.

Referee: Tom Reeves.

Venue: Lamex Stadium, Stevenage.

Weather: Cold, zero degrees at kick-off.

Attendance: 465.