Cup final heartache for Under-21s

The Premier League Cup final proved a step too far for our Under-21s as Fulham ran out comfortable winners in front of a large crowd at Craven Cottage on Thursday night.

Without any recognised central defenders in the matchday squad and playing our eighth game at this level in 31 days - the last two of which had gone to extra time - we simply couldn't conjure up more of the sparkling form we've shown for much of the season, Callum Osmand's first-half hat-trick putting the hosts firmly in control before Georgios Okkas added a fourth after the break to complete a 4-0 final scoreline.

In truth, it could have been more, but for some superb saves from Luca Gunter as a fantastic cup run came to a disappointing end, leaving us to dust ourselves down and go again in the Premier League 2 play-off semi-final against Chelsea on Sunday.

The players gave everything they had. Jamie Donley won a race to be fit after being forced off in the league play-off win over Liverpool on Sunday night but couldn't influence the game as he normally would, while we were always going to miss the colossal defensive influence of Alfie Dorrington after he also departed against the Reds with an injury. Midfielder Dante Cassanova has performed heroically as a makeshift centre-back alongside him for the second half of the campaign but his mistake inside three minutes led to Fulham's opener and on a mild night across the capital, we never recovered.

Fulham made four changes to the team that we beat 2-0 a few weeks ago to secure top spot in the league phase of the season and they wasted no time in forging ahead, Terrell Works charging down Cassanova's attempted clearance and setting up Osmand for a tap-in with less than three minutes gone. Gunter denied the latter with a vital block on his line but was powerless to prevent him from doubling the hosts' lead on 16 minutes, the centre-forward advancing into space at the edge of our box and firing in after Matthew Dibley-Dias had picked the pocket of skipper George Abbott in the middle of the park.

Donley's sweeping shot from 20 yards out tested goalkeeper Alfie McNally down to his left while Will Lankshear's flicked effort at the near post from Maeson King's cross went over the bar as we began to find some attacking impetus, but Fulham were always a threat, Jonathan Esenga's free-kick tipped over by Gunter with the same player subsequently firing wide before Gunter superbly denied Works. Lankshear had a chance to reduce the arrears three minutes before the break when he broke in behind the defence on the left side but dragged across goal and wide, before a hammer blow came in the form of a third Fulham goal in stoppage time at the end of the first half, Osmand getting between his markers to send a header over Gunter and into the net from Devan Tanton's right-sided cross.

We made a bright start to the second period but any hopes of a comeback were stamped out in the 53rd minute when Works advanced down the right side of our box and slid across the face of goal for Okkas to convert from point-blank range. In spite of the scoreline, the character of the team - which coach Wayne Burnett praised before the game - still showed through as Gunter made a great save to deny Osmand, before an equally-impressive last-ditch intervention from Cassanova denied substitute Lemar Gordon on the follow-up. Jude Soonsup-Bell and Rio Kyerematen's shots from distance were off-target as we struggled to make inroads at the other end, with Gunter's brilliance on show once more when he tipped Gordon's shot over the bar. The last chance fell to us but McNally denied Max Robson at his near post after Tyrese Hall had invaded the Fulham box with a trademark solo run, leaving the Cottagers' players to lift the trophy in a spectacular post-match presentation, with pyrotechnics firing off behind the Premier League's podium as the home crowd celebrated.

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'I'm hurting for the players'

"We're obviously bitterly disappointed with the result," said Under-21s Coach Wayne after the game at Craven Cottage. "The players probably didn't give a true account of themselves so we're hurting and it's very, very disappointing. We've played so well at times this season with some really good football, we've looked threatening but I didn't think we did any of that. We played some okay football between the boxes but we didn't really threaten Fulham and I thought they deserved to win tonight. I felt they were the better team. I'm hurting for the players because they didn't show what they're capable of and that's the disappointing thing. We gave away two very poor goals from our point of view - two mistakes - and when you're playing against a Fulham team that has some good players, it's very difficult. We conceded just before half-time which gave us an even bigger mountain to climb and we couldn't quite do that."

Match data

Goals: Fulham - Osmand 3, 16, 45+2, Okkas 53.

Yellow cards: Fulham - Pajaziti 25, Okkas 54; Spurs - King 33, Kyerematen 71.

Referee: Matthew Russell.

Venue: Craven Cottage, Fulham.

Weather: Cloudy, light winds, 15 degrees.

Attendance: 3,695.