Rio Kyerematen on Under-18 cup final success: “We always had belief”
Fri 05 May 2023, 20:09|
Tottenham Hotspur
Scorer of an 89th-minute winner in the semi-final at Sheffield United, Rio Kyerematen went one better with a brilliant brace to take our Under-18s to Premier League Cup final glory at Aston Villa on Thursday and declared: “It’s the best feeling!”
Finishing off a wonderful team move to score his memorable late decider against the Blades back in March, the midfielder this time got himself into the right place in the box to level the scores on the stroke of half-time at Villa Park, before completing a 3-1 win with a superb outside-of-the-foot finish after Jamie Donley had given us the lead.
A real favourite of the large, vocal Spurs following in attendance on the night, Rio said he was thrilled to have bettered his semi-final showing to help our youngsters lift the silverware.
“100 per cent this tops that!” he told SPURSPLAY after the game. “Sheffield United was tough and a really good moment, but today, scoring two goals, it’s the best feeling.
It’s a dream come true... we’ve worked so hard, all of us, and it paid off tonight.
“Going 1-0 down is always tough, especially in a final, but we showed character, stuck together and once we got the first goal, we always had belief.
“For my second goal, it came to me perfectly and I said ‘let me try it’. I’ve been working on that and thankfully it came off. It’s a dream come true... we’ve worked so hard, all of us, and it paid off tonight.”
Thursday’s triumph completed an unprecedented double for Stuart Lewis’ team after they lifted the Under-17 Premier League Cup with a thumping win at Nottingham Forest a fortnight ago. Rio revealed that ever since that game, the squad has had one clear target in mind.
“The first one, the Under-17 cup... we won that and then the goal was to get the double,” he said. “All we’ve been thinking about was getting the double and we did that so, yes, it’s so good! I didn’t know the turnout of fans was going to be that good as well, but it was superb and I thank them for coming. It was really great.”
