Under-23s held at home by Southampton

Our Under-23s were held to a 2-2 draw against Southampton at Hotspur Way on Friday afternoon, but will look back at missed opportunities as the reason they failed to secure maximum points.

Goals from Dilan Markanday and Harvey White – the latter a sublime free-kick – put us in control in the sunshine at the Training Centre, although the Saints hit back just a minute after our second strike to reduce the deficit courtesy of an unfortunate Jubril Okedina own goal. We then had good chances to extend our advantage with Rodel Richards, Markanday and Shilow Tracey all spurning opportunities before Kornelius Hansen levelled the scores in the 65th minute.

Despite dominating the closing stages, we couldn’t find that elusive winner and had to settle for a point, the second successive Premier League 2 game that we had seen a two-goal lead evaporate into a draw.

A fairly even opening to the contest saw both sides have a sight of goal, Tracey’s header saved by Jack Bycroft in the visitors’ goal while Kayne Ramsay headed over from a corner and Harlem Hale then side-footed wide for Saints. But we started to exert ourselves on the game and went ahead on 23 minutes. Armando Shashoua’s driven cross eluded Richards but was picked up by Markanday, who cut inside onto his left and drilled low into the corner.

And 10 minutes later it was 2-0 thanks to White’s excellent set-piece. Richards was upended as he burst forwards and White curled a left-foot, 25-yard free-kick over the wall and past the despairing dive of Bycroft. We only held that advantage for 60 seconds though as Saints responded immediately when Hale’s cross was poked goalwards by Hansen, the ball deflecting off Okedina and bobbling past Alfie Whiteman in goal. The remainder of the half was one-way traffic though as we pushed Southampton back and should have regained a two-goal lead. The best chance fell to Richards who superbly controlled Jamie Bowden’s pass on the turn to take him away from the defender and through on goal, only to then blaze wide from 12 yards.

He was released moments later too, this time by Shashoua, with Richards squaring for Markanday who in turn tried to find his team-mate with a return pass, but the Saints snuffed out the danger. On the next attack, Richards fired over the bar and just before the interval, Phoenix Patterson’s shot was well blocked by Callum Slattery making it an easy save for Bycroft.

No sooner had the second half begun than we were on the front foot again, Tracey beating his defender down the left channel of the area to get through on goal but Bycroft saved from close range. Having weathered our storm, the Saints started to play more offensively for a spell and grabbed their equaliser with their first shot of the second period. Hale advanced into a dangerous area just outside of our penalty box before playing in left-back Jake Vokins whose angled drive deflected into the path of Hansen and he tucked home at the far post.

The closing stages saw us pushing for the winner without carving out any clear-cut chances, although the visitors needed two fine saves from Bycroft in the 89th minute to preserve parity. First, he produced an excellent diving save to push away substitute Paris Maghoma’s 20-yard drive and from the rebound, Tracey’s cross was met by the head of Richards, but the keeper was there again to deny us.

Key moment

Leading 2-1 approaching half-time and well in control, a third goal would almost certainly have secured the points and it so nearly came from Richards. He did all the hard work, receiving Bowden’s pass and beating his marker all in one fine move before racing in on goal, but was unable to apply the finish his approach play deserved, firing wide with just Bycroft to beat. It wasn’t the sole reason we didn’t win the game, but was certainly a pivotal moment in the contest.

Coach’s view

Under-23s Coach Wayne Burnett said: “It’s disappointing that we’ve been two goals up and drawn again, similar to what we did at Chelsea in the last league game, although Chelsea was a slightly different game. It’s disappointing that we haven’t got a better result but we weren’t unlucky and we didn’t deserve to win, because you deserve to win if you take your chances better and we haven’t done that. We scored the first goal and they went and got a corner almost immediately. There’s a warning sign there and then after we scored the second goal, they literally ran through us and scored.

“It’s not for the lack of trying but sometimes trying isn’t enough. You have to do your job and we didn’t do what we should be doing well enough today. It was a 4-1 game in the first half but we only scored two goals and at 2-1 there’s always a chance that you can concede another one. Have we dominated the ball? Yes. Have we dominated shots on target and penalty box entries? Yes, but the scoreline is the key factor.”

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Markanday 23, White 33; Southampton – Okedina (OG) 34, Hansen 65.

Yellow cards: Southampton – O’Driscoll, Jankewitz.

Referee: Daniel Middleton.

Venue: Hotspur Way.

Weather: Sunny, gentle breeze, 20 degrees.

Attendance: 168.