Under-18s endure challenging day against Chelsea

Key moments went against our Under-18s as we fell to a heavy defeat against Chelsea at Hotspur Way on Saturday.

Trailing 3-1 shortly after half-time following two harsh penalty decisions and Ronnie Stutter’s opener against the run of play, we were left with an insurmountable task as Jimi Tauriainen’s goal was swiftly followed by a straight red card for goalscorer Jamie Donley following a challenge on the same player.

Forced to complete the last half-an-hour with 10 men, we managed to pull one back with a fine solo effort from Roshaun Mathurin against his former club, but three goals in the closing stages, including an unstoppable strike from substitute Derrick Abu, made for an unflattering 7-2 final scoreline.

We’d started brightly with a couple of half-chances for Khalon Haysman, but Stutter wriggled in behind our defence and fired across goalkeeper Adam Hayton to give the Blues a 19th-minute lead.

Hayton saved well from Tauriainen’s free-kick and Lewis Hall’s effort following a half-cleared corner but we were hit with a sucker punch on 28 minutes when what appeared to be a well-contested tackle from centre-back Alfie Dorrington on Edwin Andersson was given as a penalty, Hall finding the top corner from 12 yards to double the visitors’ advantage.

Donley made it 2-1 with a spot-kick at the other end – his second in as many games – after being tripped by defender Billy Gee and then went close to an equaliser with a low left-footed shot that had to be tipped around the post by Chelsea goalkeeper Teddy Curd.

But it all went wrong in the second half, Max McKnight adjudged to have impeded Richard Olise for another controversial penalty which Hall once again converted five minutes after the restart, before Tauriainen ran onto Stutter’s cut-back and fired home first-time via the fingertips of Hayton five minutes later.

Frustrations got close to boiling point with an hour gone when Donley received a straight red card for his challenge on Tauriainen but we still tried to push for a route back into the game, the hard-working Jaden Williams hitting the post with a good shot mid-way through the second half before Mathurin took matters into his own hands just 60 seconds after coming on, embarking on a solo run and firing into the bottom corner to make it 4-2 with 14 minutes remaining.

Unfortunately, though, it was Chelsea who pushed on to win comfortably in the closing stages, substitute Malik Mothersille going through to round Hayton and slot home on 78 minutes before beating the goalkeeper again from a tight angle, only for substitute defender Brandon Bryan-Waugh to slide back and clear off the line. Abu picked out the top corner with a stunning strike from distance on 85 minutes, before Andersson lashed high inside the near post two minutes from time to complete the scoring and leave us still searching for our first Under-18 Premier League win of the season.

‘It takes strength of character to bounce back now’

Under-18s Coach Stuart Lewis said: “Obviously the result is tough to take – it hurts the players, myself and the staff – but this is an example of a day in football that reveals character and reveals a lot about individuals. Some elements of the game were tough to take but that can happen – from the players’ point of view, they’ve got to take some of the moments in the game that they’ve experienced today and ultimately learn from them. It’s one of those experiences that really can shape your habits going forward – it takes real strength of character to bounce back from games like this and in training this week and in the coming weeks, we’ll be looking for those players who are really pushing hard and learning, because it’s ultimately about individuals learning from this and seeing how they react, but also us as staff lifting the boys, trying to push them on and helping them to develop. We’ve got to really work hard with the group now to push on in the next couple of weeks.”