Ajayi hat-trick caps big win for Under-18s over Baggies

Damola Ajayi bagged a first-half hat-trick as our Under-18s saw off West Bromwich Albion in a high-scoring encounter at Hotspur Way on Saturday lunchtime.

Firing us ahead early on, the forward completed his treble after Archie Baptiste had headed home our second as we led 4-1 at the break, with Han Willhoft-King adding his name to the scoresheet after half-time in an eventual 5-3 triumph.

Ajayi’s goals spanned just 27 minutes, but the game could have gone a different way in the early stages when Divine Onyemachi ran from deep to get the Baggies back to 2-1 midway through the first half, before Dan Chimeziri cracked a shot against the woodwork moments later in a good chance that could have levelled it up at 2-2.

Crucially, though, we were able to push on and move out of sight by half-time, with goals later in the game from Onyemachi and Archie Kirton proving mere consolations for the visitors.

Coach Stuart Lewis named a young side with two Under-16s and two Under-15s included – Junai Byfield among them making his Under-18s debut – while first-year scholar Sam Archer also made his first competitive appearance at this level after a hugely beneficial work experience loan spell at non-league Barton Rovers. Sadly, his afternoon came to an early end as he was forced off injured early in the second half, with Dylan Thompson – who recently joined our Academy from Norwich City – coming on for his Under-18s bow, having played the first half for the Under-16s on the adjacent pitch, in the process becoming the fifth different goalkeeper to play for our Under-18s in the league this season.

We were all business at the other end of the pitch in the opening exchanges, Baptiste proving an aerial threat on a couple of early corners with Ajayi seeing a shot blocked by defender Rhys Morrish before the striker fired us ahead on seven minutes, collecting captain Callum Olusesi’s pass inside the box and steering low into the net. Luca Williams-Barnett hit the crossbar from distance before Baptiste again popped up in an attacking area to make it 2-0, heading home unmarked at the back post from Yusuf Akhamrich’s free-kick in the 14th minute.

Onyemachi drove through our defence to fire home at the other end nine minutes later and it could easily have been 2-2 when Chimeziri pushed on and cut in from the left to fire right-footed towards the far top corner, but his effort smacked off the inside of the post and we just about escaped.

Our two-goal cushion was restored on 29 minutes when Ajayi coolly converted a penalty following Morrish’s foul on Olusesi, with the forward completing his treble five minutes later after Williams-Barnett set him up in the box in the wake of an initial low parry from goalkeeper Louis Brady.

We had to make a change between the sticks three minutes into the second period after Archer rushed out of his area to contest for the ball with Chimeziri and picked up an injury in the ensuing 50-50 challenge, but we continued to look bright in attack and made it 5-1 in the 57th minute when Willhoft-King swept home Miracle Adewole’s cut-back from the right in a lovely move, almost a year to the day since his last goal amid an injury-hit couple of seasons for the midfielder.

Onyemachi pulled one back for Albion on 64 minutes after sub keeper Thompson parried Adriel Walker’s angled drive, with Thompson again denying Walker a few minutes later to prevent the Baggies from building any momentum. We lost some of our own steam in the latter stages of the game after a raft of changes, although substitute Ellis Lehane almost added a sixth but blazed over the bar. Albion took advantage to snatch a third goal as Kirton pushed through to fire home on the 90-minute mark and only some excellent last-ditch defending from Baptiste prevented Chimeziri from adding another in stoppage time. Nevertheless, we’d done enough to register our first win in four Under-18 Premier League matches, setting us up nicely going into next weekend’s north London derby.

Reaction on SPURSPLAY

‘A pleasing all-round performance’

Under-18s Coach Stuart praised Ajayi after his hat-trick, telling SPURSPLAY: “I’m really pleased for Damola, he’s obviously had some exposure to Under-21s football and he’s done really well for us as well, so it’s testament to his effort to get that hat-trick today. He’s been working hard with Bradley (Allen) and Jermain (Defoe) on his finishing, so I was really pleased for him and it was a good all-round performance from him.

“In terms of the group, it was a really good result and a positive performance. We had a young team out there with two Under-15s and two Under-16s starting the game and also Dylan Thompson came on, but they’ve trained really well all week, it was a really positive performance and I thought our energy for 60 or 65 minutes was outstanding. We probably could have scored more and been a bit more ruthless in front of goal, but it was a really pleasing all-round performance.”