Under-23s left frustrated after all-action derby

Two early goals ultimately proved enough for Arsenal, although our 10-man Under-23s went down fighting in a rip-roaring Premier League 2 north London derby at Meadow Park on Friday night.

After conceding to Marcelo Flores and a Tobi Omole own goal inside 24 minutes, it was Alfie Devine who inspired a resurgent display with a magnificent solo effort to make it 2-1 shortly past the half-hour mark and from there we had a number of chances to equalise during a high-octane contest, only to be left frustrated by a combination of the woodwork, Gunners goalkeeper Hubert Graczyk and some last-ditch defending.

A second yellow card and subsequent red for Matthew Craig with just over a quarter-of-an-hour left dented our momentum a little in the closing stages and the hosts also had a couple of opportunities to extend their lead in the second period, but we continued to press forward, even with our numerical disadvantage.

In the end, though, Arsenal were able to hold onto the points.

The defeat was harsh on our players, who gave their all in spite of the early setbacks and controlled large parts of the game in terms of attempts at goal and penalty box entries. Flores rolled into an empty net from Mika Biereth's square ball following a mistake by defender Marqes Muir to give Arsenal the lead on 17 minutes, an advantage that was doubled just seven minutes later when Flores' dangerous low driven ball across the six-yard box from the left was accidentally turned into his own net by the retreating Omole, who had come straight back into the starting line-up after suspension and was facing his former club.

Having lacked chances and been punished for our mistakes in the first half-an-hour, Devine sparked us into life when he picked up a loose ball in midfield and ran unstoppably towards the edge of the Arsenal box before stroking into the bottom corner to halve the deficit on 32 minutes, the midfielder subsequently hitting the base of the far post with another good effort and sending a glancing header just wide from one of a number of menacing deliveries from the excellent Harvey White before the first half was out. In amongst all that, Dane Scarlett missed a good headed chance but then had a shot-on-the-turn blocked, set up J'Neil Bennett to test Graczyk from a tight angle on the left and then looked for all the world to have picked out the top corner with a great right-footed shot from 18 yards out as the interval approached, only to be denied by a flying save from the Arsenal custodian.

We continued to go after the hosts at the start of the second half, Bennett dragging a shot across goal and wide before Mundle almost scored with an audacious effort from distance, only to see the ball crash back off the bar as it dipped towards the far top corner. White tested Graczyk from long range on a couple of occasions, but Arsenal still carried a threat of their own with James Olayinka and Omari Giraud-Hutchinson having shots blocked in our box.

Omole's header from a corner was tipped over by Graczyk while Joel Lopez beat Josh Oluwayemi but lifted his shot over the bar at the other end, Oluwayemi then denying Flores as the game opened up even more and the chances came thick and fast for both sides. Our best opportunity to draw level came on 70 minutes when Scarlett pounced on a loose pass inside Arsenal's 18-yard box but despite beating Grackzyk with his eventual low drive, Alex Kirk somehow blocked it on the line to leave the young striker frustrated.

Three minutes later we were reduced to 10 men when Craig, who had switched from central midfield to centre-back at half-time, was shown his second yellow card for bringing down Biereth as he tried to break forward and although we played on with a man less at the back in an attempt to continue in the ascendancy, in truth it was the Gunners who had the better opportunities of the latter stages with Olayinka, Flores and Giraud-Hutchinson all having attempts at goal and keeping Oluwayemi occupied. Try as we might, we couldn't find a second goal, leaving us still in search of our first Premier League 2 win of 2022.

'We've come away really, really disappointed'

Under-23s Coach Wayne Burnett cut a frustrated figure after the game: "We're bitterly disappointed to lose any game, but we know how much the north London derby in particular means to everyone associated with the football club and with that in mind, it's especially tough to take," he said. "We didn't play well in the first 20 to 25 minutes - that's evident with the fact that we gave two goals away. You can't start a game like that, but once we got back into it with a really well-taken goal from Alfie Devine, I felt extremely confident that we would push on from there - we've hit the post, the crossbar, had one cleared off the line but in the end, we haven't scored an equaliser. Even after we had a man sent off, we were still pushing, but the game wasn't lost because we didn't score more goals, it was lost because of the mistakes we made in the first 25 minutes and we emphasised that to the players afterwards. Arsenal had some opportunities to extend their lead but we continued to have chances, even at 11 v 10, but we couldn't score a second goal and in the end we've come away really, really disappointed that we haven't taken any points from the game."

Match data

Goals: Arsenal - Flores 17, Omole (OG) 24; Devine 32.

Yellow cards: Arsenal - Kirk 84; Spurs - Craig 44, 73.

Red card: Spurs - Craig 73.

Referee: Scott Tallis.

Venue: Meadow Park, Borehamwood.

Weather: Gentle breeze, six degrees.