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Moore strikes late to topple J League champions in Tokyo

Vissel Kobe 2-3 Spurs

Sat 27 July 2024, 14:00|Tottenham Hotspur

Pedro Porro added another goal to his ever-growing Spurs scrapbook as Mikey Moore struck late to beat Vissel Kobe in Tokyo on Saturday.

Indeed, we scored three picturebook goals in overcoming both the heat, humidity and the J League champions in front of over 54,000 fans at Japan's National Stadium.

Having gone behind early, Porro levelled with a beauty on 17 minutes, providing a clinical finish from a move started deep by Archie Gray and involving Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson, before Porro glided onto Kulusevski's flick, stepped inside the last defender and finished.

The Heung-Min Son-Johnson axis bore fruit again to make it 2-1 at the start of the second half before the home side - 24 games into their domestic campaign - drew level on 62 minutes.

We weren't to be denied though as Academy duo Jamie Donley and Mikey Moore combined four minutes from time, Donley's cross from the left byline an open invitation for Moore to tap home his second goal of pre-season.

Guglielmo Vicario and Ben Davies returned to action as Ange Postecoglou made five changes to the team that started our last friendly at QPR last weekend. Vicario and Davies were joined by Emerson Royal, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison in the XI.

Vissel Kobe are mid-season here in Japan and it showed in the early stages. With temperatures hitting 31 degrees at kick-off, they were out of the blocks quickly and carved out a couple of chances before Yuya Osaka converted when Pape Matar Sarr's sliding block from Nansei Iino's cross inadvertently fell into his path.

It wasn't long before we were in our stride though and we levelled on 17 minutes. Gray picked a pass from deep into Kulusevksi, he went wide to Johnson who returned the ball to the Swede, who cleverly flicked into Porro's path. Porro did the rest, switching onto his left foot and slotting home.

#MatchReport #VisselKobe

Vissel Kobe 2-3 Spurs

Vissel Kobe squad: Maekawa, Kuwasaki, Kikuchi, Thuler, Hatsuse (c), Ohgihara, Iino, Ideguchi, Yamauchi, Muto, Osako. Substitutes: Arai, Takayama, Obi, Yamakawa, Honda, Homma, Terasaka, Yamada, Iwanami, Sasaki, Hidaka, Hamasaki, Patric, Tominaga.

Spurs: Vicario (Austin 46); Porro (Spence 64), Royal (Phillips 64), Gray (Abbott 64), Davies (Donley 46); Sarr (Devine 64), Bissouma (Bergvall 46), Maddison (Skipp 46); Kulusevski (Lankshear 65), Son (c, Solomon 58), Johnson (Moore 58). Substitutes (not used): Gunter, Hall, Scarlett, Veliz.

Kulusevski hit the side-netting, Son's curler was saved by Daiya Maekawa and Johnson was somehow denied a tap in by Yosuke Yamauchi, and the half-time interval didn't stop our momentum. Just two minutes in, Porro picked Johnson's dart down the right and once he got away from Yuki Honda, there was only one outcome with Son sprinting into clear space at the far post.

Vissel Kobe responded well and carved out a couple of chances, including Brandon Austin saving at Kakeru Yamouchi's feet, but we enjoyed another purple patch as the likes of Lucas Bergvall, Mikey Moore, Alfie Devine and Djed Spence stepped up again. Donley clipped the post from 20 yards, Moore was denied by what looked like an arm on the goal line, but then Vissel Kobe levelled out of the blue as Jean Patric worked a yard and converted from close range on 62 minutes.

Powell Obi did well to keep out Devine and Donley, Lankshear was inches away from Devine's cross, Moore headed over and Solomon curled just wide before our late winner. Solomon fed into Donley's run left side and the cross left Moore with the easiest of tasks from close range for his second goal in pre-season.