Goals galore in Under-18s' season opener

Our Under-18s were involved in a goal-fest to start the new season, securing a 6-4 win over Crystal Palace at a sunny Hotspur Way on Saturday.

Level at 2-2 at the end of the first half after an own goal and a good strike from Herbie James, we pulled away in the second period as Luca Williams-Barnett and Ellis Lehane helped themselves to a brace apiece, the latter denied his hat-trick in stoppage time by Palace goalkeeper Marcus Hill.

Unfortunately, a below-par last few minutes took the gloss off of what was otherwise a positive outing as defender Malachi Hardy was sent off for a second bookable offence, Matteo Dashi swiftly scored the visitors’ second penalty of the game before Jesse Derry made it 6-4 in the 92nd minute. We were far enough in front to be sure of a winning start to the new Under-18 Premier League campaign, but it left coach Stuart Lewis and his staff with plenty to ponder at the end of an all-action contest.

Winger James, back in the fold after missing several months of action last season, fired wide on the counter while goalkeeper Sam Archer – wearing the captain’s armband – repelled David Obou’s shot at the other end before the latter gave Palace a 13th-minute lead from the spot after Jun’ai Byfield had been penalised for a challenge in the box.

We responded three minutes later as a superb first touch and cross from Miracle Adewole on the right saw Hill parry the ball onto Tyler White, who diverted it into his own net. And on 27 minutes, we took the lead as James pushed on down the left, advanced in-field and fired low inside the near post. Debutant George Feeney and Williams-Barnett were both denied by Hill, but the visitors stayed in the game and levelled six minutes before the break when Derry worked his way down the inside left channel and clipped a low shot across goal and into the far bottom corner.

You felt the game could go either way as the second period commenced, but we got straight on the front foot and restored our lead on 52 minutes when Feeney won the ball in midfield and sent Williams-Barnett through to score with a fine low finish. The latter, one of two Under-16s players to start for us along with five first-year scholars in a new-look line-up, later clipped the crossbar with a free-kick while Jamel Beggs twice fired off target before Lehane blasted home emphatically in the 68th minute after a free-kick at the side of the box caused Palace problems.

Four minutes later, Lehane had his second, this one coming from the penalty spot after substitute Reiss Elliott-Parris was fouled by Josh Muwana, the forward having showed real determination after initially being brought down in midfield but scrambling back to his feet to continue the attack. Still we pressed forward and on 81 minutes, we had our sixth as Feeney again sent Williams-Barnett forward into the box, he turned on the ball to wrong-foot the goalkeeper and a defender before deftly guiding a shot over them and into the centre of the net.

We appeared to ease up after that, though, and Palace took advantage. Centre-back Hardy picked up his second yellow card – this one for dissent – and was dismissed in the 86th minute, with Dashi scoring a penalty 60 seconds later following Calum Logan’s challenge on Benjie Casey. Lehane broke through at the other end but was denied by the outstretched leg of keeper Hill before Palace substitute Caleb Redhead set up Derry to guide a low shot into the bottom corner for 6-4 in the 92nd minute. There was no time for the Eagles to make any further inroads into the scoreline, though, meaning it was a winning start to 2024/25 for our young side.

‘We were ill-disciplined in the last 10 or 15 minutes’

While he was naturally pleased with the opening-day win, coach Stuart felt there were numerous areas that will need improvement. He told SPURSPLAY: “It was a really good start to the season in terms of the result, I thought we were excellent for 75 minutes, but it’s a mixture of emotions after that really because I thought the way we finished the game was disappointing, we left the game too early at 6-2 and for the scoreline to finish 6-4, that’s something that we really need to work on. Obviously we lost a player to a red card as well, so we were a little bit ill-disciplined in the last 10 or 15 minutes. That’s something we’ve got to work on, but there were some positive individual displays in amongst that. It’s a really attacking group that we have, but also defensively we have to be switched on – I spoke about that before the game and we spoke about that throughout pre-season as well. Although we’re attacking, we have to make sure we’re locking it down behind the ball, so that was a disappointing aspect, conceding four at home, but also it’s a real positive to score six and I thought some of the goals were outstanding as well.”