Under-21s begin play-offs with victory in Villa thriller

Will Lankshear's extra-time strike finally saw off a spirited Aston Villa side as our Under-21s secured a 4-3 victory in the last 16 of the Premier League 2 play-offs at Stevenage on Monday afternoon.

Having trailed to Sil Swinkels' first-half goal, we kept our heads up and played some wonderful football at times before deservedly turning the game around through goals from Yago Santiago and Lankshear.

Substitute Jamal Jimoh-Aloba snatched an 83rd-minute equaliser for the visitors and while we thought we'd won it when Rio Kyerematen slotted home for 3-2 in the 91st minute, there was to be yet more drama from a gripping game when Jimoh-Aloba ran through despite big appeals for offside to make it 3-3 and send the tie into extra time.

We maintained our composure, though, and when Lankshear netted in the 100th minute, it was enough to secure our second 4-3 win in four days and book a home tie with Liverpool in the quarter-finals. Villa were reduced to 10 men when Finley Munroe was shown a second yellow card for simulation just after half-time of extra time, giving us a numerical advantage as we saw out a frenetic Bank Holiday encounter.

There was an early sign of the drama to come with just over a minute gone as the excellent George Abbott's shot was saved, with Jamie Donley's effort on the follow-up cleared off the line by Munroe. Omari Kellyman's attempt at the other end was bravely blocked by the solid Alfie Dorrington but after the same Villa player's shot was clawed out by Luca Gunter, Swinkels was on hand to convert at the back post and give the visitors a 32nd-minute lead, somewhat against the run of play.

Donley and Kyerematen went close later in the first half before Lankshear's effort at the start of the second was turned away by visiting goalkeeper James Wright. We were a joy to watch during a bright second-half display and just rewards arrived on 71 minutes when substitute Nile John's cross from the right was flicked on at the near post by Lankshear for Santiago to convert from a tight angle on the far side. Five minutes later, we were in front as Lankshear controlled Kyerematen's cross from the right in the box and slid low past Wright.

The determined Abbott made a heroic block in our box to deny Jimoh-Aloba but our hopes of seeing out the game were undone when three Villa substitutes combined, Travis Patterson's ball in from the left touched on by Kobei Moore for Jimoh-Aloba to slot home an 83rd-minute equaliser. We stayed on the front foot, though, and when Donley played a pass forward for Kyerematen, the inverted right-back turned away from danger and was calmness personified as he stroked home a 91st-minute goal to put us 3-2 in front.

That could have been that but when Jimoh-Aloba raced onto a long ball forward and rounded Gunter, the offside flag stayed down - much to our dismay - and Villa were level again three minutes into added time.

John almost won it right at the end with a rising shot that was saved by Wright, who subsequently denied Tyrese Hall at the start of extra time as the tie rumbled on into 30 more minutes. Villa were tiring but we kept going and after Lankshear flashed a header wide, he showed great desire to pick the pocket of defender Lamare Bogarde and clip the ball beyond Wright to restore our lead once more in the 100th minute of the game.

Both sides had chances thereafter, Gunter denying Patterson with an outstanding save when the Villa man just had the keeper to beat, while Jimoh-Aloba fired wide. Lankshear was thwarted by Wright at the other end, with Hall's shot on the follow-up blocked by Bogarde.

Defender Munroe was given his marching orders three minutes into the second half of extra time after picking up a second yellow card of the game, this one for simulation in our box, and while we were able to see out the win, the visitors still threatened from a couple of late set-pieces, Jimoh-Aloba firing one last effort over the bar towards the end. That was that, and we marched on into the quarter-finals, details of which will be confirmed in the coming days.

'The players have done everything that we've asked'

Under-21s Coach Wayne Burnett told SPURSPLAY: "We're really pleased and it's nice to progress into the quarter-finals. The players have shown character all the way through, we had a tough game against Nottingham Forest on Thursday coming from 3-0 down but I said to them that the character and mentality was evident and that was the case again today. I thought there were some very good performances and I wasn't too disappointed that we went in a goal down at half-time because we'd actually played okay, I said that we had to keep doing what we were doing and we did that. At 3-2, I thought that was probably it but all credit to Aston Villa, they kept going and managed to get an equaliser.

"We've spoken about the importance of these games now, they're one-off games with an element of pressure but the players have dealt with it admirably. They've kept going, shown character, looked fit and done everything that we've asked, and we're really pleased that it's showing on the pitch at times. We don't always get it right but it's the way the players try to do things right which is the pleasing thing. We're doing okay at the moment, we've still got work to do, we're in the next round, it will be a difficult game against Liverpool but it's one that we're certainly looking forward to."

Match data

Goals: Spurs - Santiago 71, Lankshear 76, 100, Kyerematen 90+1; Aston Villa - Swinkels 32, Jimoh-Aloba 83, 90+3.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Soonsup-Bell 43, Dorrington 65, Kyerematen 68; Aston Villa - Munroe 78, 108, Katsukunya 90+7, Rowe 97, Jimoh-Aloba 102.

Red card: Aston Villa - Munroe 108.

Referee: Robert Massey-Ellis.

Venue: Lamex Stadium, Stevenage.

Weather: Bright, showers, 15 degrees.

Attendance: 601.