Under-23s lose out at Crawley

Dilan Markanday's fifth goal of pre-season wasn't enough as our Under-23s suffered their first defeat of the summer at League Two side Crawley Town on Saturday afternoon.

The attacking midfielder cancelled out Ashley Nadesan's early opener after Alfie Devine pounced on a defensive mistake, but Davide Rodari's header from a corner 10 minutes before half-time settled the outcome at the People's Pension Stadium. We fashioned a couple of late chances with Rafferty Pedder, Max Robson - twice - and Markanday all denied from close range, but an equaliser proved elusive.

Crawley, who beat West Ham's Under-23s by the same scoreline on Monday night, largely controlled the first period and took only four minutes to edge ahead as Rodari turned home from inside the box - the first goal our Under-23s have conceded so far in pre-season. Our only real chance of the half followed eight minutes later and led to our goal, as Devine pounced on a loose ball, rounded keeper Glenn Morris and set up Markanday to convert from close range.

Josh Oluwayemi was kept busy in goal, denying Rodari and Tyler Frost, while it needed Jubril Okedina's clearance to deny the latter again after he embarked on another driving run into our box on 35 minutes. From Jack Powell's resulting corner, though, Rodari rose highest in the box to head home for 2-1.

We took greater control in our own half following the restart, having struggled to deal with Crawley's attacking players at times, with Devine unlucky not to truly test Morris with a first-time shot inside the box as we looked for a route back into the game. Rodari connected with a dangerous cross into our box but couldn't steer his effort on target while Maksim Paskotsi's header nestled in the side netting for us.

Left-back Dennis Cirkin was introduced amid a raft of second-half changes for his first appearance of the summer, while Crawley brought on a man who used to play in his position in our Academy, Nick Tsaroulla, moments later.

As the game wore on, we looked the more likely to score with substitute Pedder denied by Morris and Robson's effort on the follow-up scrambled clear from inside the six-yard box with four minutes left. We went close again in stoppage time as Robson's header from Marcel Lavinier's delivery on the break was spilled by Morris, but Markanday couldn't quite force the ball home from close range as the keeper recovered.

Match data

Goals: Crawley Town - Nadesan 4, Rodari 35; Spurs - Markanday 12.

Yellow card: Spurs - Okedina 51.

Venue: People's Pension Stadium, Crawley.

Weather: Bright but with thundery showers at times, 20 degrees.

Attendance: 1,449.