Under-18s suffer home defeat to Leeds

Our youngsters’ Under-18 Premier League Cup campaign began with a 3-1 home defeat to Leeds United on Tuesday afternoon.

Trailing at the break to Lleyton Brown’s opener, we produced an improved second-half performance and equalised through defender Elijah Upson’s first Under-18 goal but were picked off as we pushed for a second, Oliver Pickles restoring the visitors’ lead before substitute Carrick Njinko bundled home Leeds’ third from close range in stoppage time.

It was a challenging start to the competition for our heavily-rotated team at Hotspur Way – coach Stuart Lewis made 11 changes from the side that started Saturday’s 5-1 win at Fulham in the league – but with further Group B matches to come against Manchester United and Leicester City, we’ll have a chance to put things right in the months ahead.

There were competitive Under-18 debuts for Samal Bangura, Leon Myrtaj and Under-16s players Tyler Tingey and Cameron Thomas during the tie, with Timi Adekunle marking only his second appearance at this level after spending the majority of last term on the sidelines. Right-back Bangura was quickly into the thick of the action, blocking superbly inside our box from Freddie Lane as both teams grappled to get a foothold in the game but as the first half went on, it was Leeds who fashioned the better chances, goalkeeper Charlie Warren producing the first of several big saves when he denied Jacob Render one-on-one in the 21st minute.

Four minutes later, though, Leeds were ahead as Lane embarked on a weaving run into our box from the left, with the ball falling kindly for Brown to ping into the top corner from 16 yards out.

Centre-forward Devon Brockie squandered chances for the visitors either side of half-time, firing across goal and wide at the end of the first period before being denied by Warren at the beginning of the second, but we were buoyed by the half-time introductions of Thomas and Herbie James, the latter proving a real outlet on the left as we began to seize the upper hand.

Tynan Thompson forced a save from Leeds goalkeeper George Kenyon with a shot from distance and after the resulting corner caused problems in the box, centre-half Upson was on hand to prod home the equaliser on 52 minutes. We continued on the front foot as we started to dominate the game, but Leeds managed to regain the lead five minutes later, Brockie heading the ball forward for Pickles to go through and slot past Warren.

Brockie was again denied by Warren following another Leeds counter-attack before a big chance for us arrived with four minutes remaining, influential substitute Calum Logan’s cut-back from the left finding Myrtaj in the box, but he couldn’t beat Kenyon with his first-time shot. We would come to rue that opportunity, with Leeds adding a third goal in the fifth added minute, Pickles latching onto a long ball over the top and cutting back from the right for Njinko to sweep home from a couple of yards out.