Under-21s begin pre-season with win at Enfield Town

Will Lankshear picked up where he left off at the end of last term by bagging two goals as our Under-21s kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 3-2 win at Enfield Town on Saturday afternoon.

The striker, top scorer in our 2023/24 Premier League 2 title-winning campaign, netted either side of half-time to add to Callum Olusesi’s early opener as we stormed into a three-goal lead at the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, before the hosts reduced the arrears through their own top marksman from last term, Marcus Wyllie, and new signing Billy Leonard.

A staple of our summer fixture calendar in recent years, the match against our near neighbours proved to be a useful workout for Wayne Burnett’s new-look squad as preparations for the 2024/25 campaign began.

Lankshear was one of only a small handful of regular starters from our title-winning campaign who started the game as several members of last term’s Under-18s side came into the fray. Among them were James Rowswell and goalkeeper Carey Bloedorn, who made welcome returns from injury off the bench in the second half.

We took the lead on 16 minutes when Nile John’s low through ball found Olusesi, who turned in the box and slotted past goalkeeper Adi Connolly. Alex Solomon went close at the other end with two headed attempts in a couple of minutes, but it was a relatively quiet first half in terms of chances until Lankshear began finding opportunities, the striker testing Connolly with a rising shot just beyond the half-hour mark before instinctively converting Damola Ajayi’s excellent cross from the right at the back post to double our lead a minute before the break.

Enfield Town, who won promotion to non-league’s second tier for the first time in their history at the end of last season, made wholesale changes at half-time with more of their regular campaigners introduced in place of a largely trialist-based starting team, but we extended our lead four minutes after the restart when Lankshear rifled in from the right angle inside the box.

Herson Alves fired straight at goalkeeper Josh Keeley in a good chance for the home side as the second half progressed but, after a raft of substitutions for us, they made it 3-1 with 18 minutes remaining as Wyllie ran clean through down the middle of the pitch to slot in.

Yusuf Akhamrich exhibited some excellent attacking play down the left wing either side of Wyllie’s goal, but neither Lankshear nor his replacement Jaden Williams could convert the resulting cut-backs. Thankfully that didn’t prove too costly as although Leonard pulled another goal back on 81 minutes, slotting into an empty net from the left angle after substitute goalkeeper Bloedorn had been left stranded outside his area, we saw the game out to claim victory.

Match data

Goals: Enfield Town – Wyllie 73, Leonard 81; Spurs – Olusesi 16, Lankshear 44, 49.

Referee: Matt Norton.

Venue: Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, Enfield.

Weather: Sunny intervals, light cloud, 18 degrees.

Attendance: 1,076.