Another Williams-Barnett stunner sparks turnaround for Under-18s

Luca Williams-Barnett scored from inside the centre circle for the second time in three games to kick-start a superb comeback win for our Under-18s against Leicester City on Saturday.

The forward, who was named on the bench for the first team away to Galatasaray on Thursday night and at 16 is still a schoolboy, came up with a dazzling equaliser just before half-time at Hotspur Way, collecting the ball mid-way inside our territory, skipping past Kaleb Dyke and letting flying from just beyond the half-way line, cancelling out Dyke's opener for the Foxes in remarkable style.

It was a similar strike to the one he scored at West Ham last month and was the first of three wonderful goals for us on the day, with Tynan Thompson's rasping shot flying high into the net via a deflection just after the restart, before defender Jun'ai Byfield - also a schoolboy - showed some great footwork in the opponents' box as he pulled down Williams-Barnett's cross and slammed home his first goal at this level for 3-1.

It was a well-earned win from a highly-competitive clash, which was preceded by a minute's silence on this Remembrance weekend, prior to which team captain Sam Archer laid a Poppy wreath on the centre circle. The game itself didn't yield much in the way of chances until the mid-way point of the first half, although Byfield was still required to make a superb tackle from behind to prevent Lorenz Hutchinson from getting in on goal inside three minutes.

Williams-Barnett had our first real attempt when he tested goalkeeper Jake Donohue from a tight angle after a swift give-and-go with Reiss Elliott-Parris on 24 minutes, with Jamel Beggs' effort on the rebound blocked in the Leicester box at the expense of a corner. Hutchinson fired across goal and wide at the other end before we went close again as Miracle Adewole turned Thompson's cut-back towards goal from six yards out, but Donohue saved it.

Leicester took the lead on 41 minutes when Dyke fired inside the near post from the edge of the box, with his team-mate Laulo Omobolaji subsequently hitting the base of the post from distance as the visitors almost took full control. But in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, Williams-Barnett came up with another magic moment, beating Dyke as he roamed forward from deep inside our territory before sending a perfectly-weighted lob over the backpedalling Donohue from just over the half-way line to give us a real lift going into the break.

And we made it count after the restart, coming out firing and taking the lead within three minutes as Thompson's right-footed shot from 25 yards out deflected up off the head of a defender, which sent the ball swirling over Donohue and high into the net. And there was more - Williams-Barnett found Byfield up in the Leicester box with a superb cross and the centre-half, who used to be a centre-forward in his younger days, showed a real striker's control to bring the ball under his spell, shift it onto his left foot and plant past Donohue in the 52nd minute.

Some solid Leicester defending denied us a fourth just beyond the hour mark as Byfield's shot was cleared off the line by Kevon Gray, with Thompson's drive on the follow-up blocked behind by Maxwell Adedeji. In truth, the visitors didn't really trouble us at the back in the second period and we could have added another when the returning Ellis Lehane saw his fierce 20-yard shot tipped over the bar by Donohue, with Adewole firing over the bar on the counter just afterwards. Nevertheless, with three fine goals in the bag, it was a welcome return to winning ways at this level in the first of a double-header against the Foxes either side of the international break - we visit them in the Under-18 Premier League Cup in a fortnight's time.

Watch | Luca Williams-Barnett's long-range goal against Leicester

'A really good game to watch and be a part of'

Under-18s Coach Stuart Lewis was thrilled to see his side convert a bright week of training into a victory. He reflected: "We've had a really positive week with some positive training and that was evident in our performance today. I was really pleased with the performance levels and obviously the result was a byproduct of that, but the collective display and training week was a real step in the right direction. I thought it was a really good game - in the first half they came and pressed us with real intent and we had to be good with the football, which we were. It was two teams really going at it and it made for a really good game to watch and to be a part of.

"I thought their goal was slightly against the run of play but then obviously we replied with an outstanding individual goal. Luca's bravery and courage with the ball has been on show throughout the season and some of the individual moments he's shown have been excellent. We've been working hard with Tynan on the goalscoring side of his game as well. He's another player who has got undoubted ability and really improved his all-round game, including his habits without the ball. And again, Jun'ai, with his defensive performance, I thought he showed a real edge to his play and his display along with the others at the back was the foundation of our win, so he deserved that moment when he scored as well."