Under-21s secure victory over St Albans

Our Under-21s maintained a perfect start to their pre-season campaign, making it two wins out of two with a 2-0 victory at St Albans City on Saturday afternoon.

Yago Santiago provided the assist for Damola Ajayi as the forward netted the opening goal midway through the first half, before Jaden Williams secured the win at Clarence Park with plenty of Spurs supporters in attendance.

The hosts had chances throughout the game, Josh Catiglione and Shaun Jeffers both going close, however Wayne Burnett’s side also provided a strong defensive display with players getting plenty of minutes as preparations for the 2024/25 campaign continued.

There were five changes to the starting XI that faced Enfield Town in our pre-season opener last weekend and one of those was Williams, who was an energetic figure in the opening stages of the game and he carved out the first opportunity on 11 minutes as the forward and Santiago linked up, the former saw his effort blocked before Ajayi’s close-range chance was diverted wide.

Castiglione went close for the hosts at the other end with a headed attempt, while Jeffers tested Josh Keeley from the edge of the box. We opened the scoring on 22 minutes when Santiago, after some lovely footwork on the edge of the box, fed a pass through to Ajayi inside the box and he calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner.

Santiago, who was a constant threat down the left-hand side, found Yusuf Akhamrich this time, who saw his effort blocked. It was relatively quiet for chances after that, although the hosts were close to grabbing a leveller in the final minute of the first half as Catiglione’s half-volley into ground was flicked over the bar by Jeffers.

St Albans, who will compete in the National League South for the upcoming campaign, made wholesale changes inside the opening 15 minutes of the second half and it could be argued that it disrupted the flow of the game with opportunities few and far between after the break.

Williams was close to extending our advantage just after the hour mark as he took down Maeson King’s cross before his effort was tipped around the post by the trialist goalkeeper. Substitute Callum Olusesi then forced a smart stop from the trialist as he managed to squeeze a shot through two players.

We doubled our lead on 70 minutes as Williams capitalised on a mistake from the goalkeeper and he tapped home into an empty net. The hosts continued to pose a threat when Sam Meakes raced behind our back line, although Pele Arganese-McDermott was alert to produce a fantastic recovery tackle to preserve our first clean sheet of pre-season at this level.

Match Data

Goals: Spurs – Ajayi 22, Williams 70.

Referee: James Hall.

Venue: Clarence Park, St Albans.

Weather: Sunny intervals, light cloud, 24 degrees.

Attendance: 1,847.