Second-half hat-trick thwarts Under-18s against Leicester

A second-half hat-trick from Chris Popov consigned our Under-18s to a 3-0 home defeat to Leicester City on Saturday.

Missing a number of key players and with a particularly young side, we gave the high-flying Foxes a real battle for just under an hour at Hotspur Way.

But Popov’s first goal on 55 minutes after a mistake by goalkeeper Luca Gunter, who had made some impressive saves up until that point, spelled trouble for us and the Leicester man went on to score twice more to round off the win for his side, as our own wait for a goal extended into a fourth match.

Nevertheless, there were some individual plusses to take, with valuable Under-18 Premier League experience handed to a number of Under-16s players – four of them were on the pitch at once during the second period as Tyrese Hall and substitute Ollie Irow, making their debuts at this level, joined the impressive Han Willhoft-King and Sam Amo-Ameyaw in trying to take the game to the visitors.

Without a recognised striker in the starting line-up, Under-18s Coach Stuart Lewis deployed Tom Bloxham as a false nine but it was from his set-pieces that we threatened most, centre-back Alfie Dorrington just missing a free header at the front post from one such delivery in the 36th minute. Popov had earlier gone close twice for Leicester, with Alfie Devine’s deflected shot from distance whistling just wide for us in between.

Dorrington was in the thick of it at both ends during the first half, manning the barricades well in addition to getting forward, while Gunter rushed out of his area on a handful of occasions to avert any danger. Indeed, the two combined to deny the Foxes an opener five minutes before the interval when Dorrington tackled Popov from behind in the box and the ball ran to Brandon Cover, but his shot was well saved by Gunter.

We started the second half on the front foot with two more Bloxham deliveries leading to near-post openings for Willhoft-King and Dorrington, while Jordan Hackett’s pass in to the feet of half-time substitute Irow saw the latter denied by Leicester goalkeeper Kelechi Chibueze following a good shot-on-the-turn. But the visitors came back at us with Gunter denying Popov at first, then Popov and Will Alves moments later with a superb double save.

Within seconds, though, after all that good work, the goalkeeper fumbled a cross from the left, leaving Popov with a routine finish from the right angle to give Leicester the upper hand and from there, we never recovered. Popov fired wide on the break before curling in a superb free-kick on 69 minutes following Hackett’s challenge on Alves, then completed his treble seven minutes later after going through one-on-one with Gunter. Hall had our best attempt of the latter stages with a 20-yard free-kick, but his effort was comfortable for Chibueze.

‘That first goal was a real sucker-punch’

Coach Stuart referred to Popov’s opener as a key point in the game: “It was a huge moment,” he said. “I was really pleased with the first 55 minutes until that first goal – we had some excellent passages of play and some real momentum at that time, so to concede then was a real disappointment, but ultimately we still had enough time to come back into the game and I thought on the whole the character that we showed was good. We had four Under-16s on the pitch in the second half and they’ll take loads of lessons from the match – there were a couple of performances that were stand-out, so I was really pleased with them – but that first goal was a real sucker-punch.”

Now winless and without a goal in four games, Stuart refused to blame the absence of a number of forward players including regular goal-getters Jamie Donley and Jaden Williams for our struggles in punishing the opposition.

“We are missing some forward players but that’s not an excuse – we have to be looking to chip in from elsewhere and other players have to take responsibility and be better with their habits in that area,” he said. “The execution of the final pass, the timing to create space, the movement to arrive into the space… all of that is really important for the lads in the final third but we also had a couple of opportunities on set-pieces today where defenders can look to get across their man, so it’s a collective responsibility in that area. We’re obviously working hard on it in training but at the same time it’s about our individual and collective habits in and around that section of the pitch.”