Youngsters reach Under-17 Premier League Cup final again

Our Academy has reached the Under-17 Premier League Cup final for the third time in four seasons, with Stuart Lewis underlining how important the competition is for our young players.

Wednesday’s 5-0 victory over Derby County in the semi-final at Hotspur Way means we’ll face either Charlton Athletic or Manchester United for a chance to lift the trophy later this season, just two years on from our memorable win over Nottingham Forest in the 2022/23 final.

We also made it all the way to the competition’s last game in 2021/22, but suffered defeat to Manchester City on that occasion.

For Under-18s Coach Stuart, whose squad throughout the season has comprised largely of first-year scholars and Under-16s players, the Under-17 Premier League Cup allows his players to test themselves against opponents of a similar age.

“It’s a really important competition for us,” he explained. “It allows us to judge the boys physically in a competitive environment where age-wise it’s perhaps slightly more of an even playing field compared to some of the Under-18 matches we play. We’ve spoken a lot this season about how young our youth team is and so it’s really valuable for the boys to go up against teams of a similar age range, and they’ve really shown their quality over the course of the campaign.”

Following a 2-2 draw at West Bromwich Albion in our group stage opener, we secured wins away to Norwich City (3-1) and at home to West Ham United (5-0) to qualify for the knockout stages, before a superb 4-2 triumph at Chelsea last month set us up for Wednesday’s semi-final against the Rams. George Feeney fired us ahead just four minutes in, with Under-16s player Dexter Oliver adding a brace to put us 3-0 up at the interval. Luca Williams-Barnett then added his name to the scoresheet before Ellis Lehane rounded off the win six minutes from time, with Blake Irow – younger brother of Development Squad forward Oliver – keeping a clean sheet at the other end.

“It was a really proud day for myself, the staff and all the players,” added Stuart. “It was a really outstanding team performance and to score five goals and keep a clean sheet in a semi-final is a huge positive. It was a great reaction following the defeat in the FA Youth Cup last Thursday and I’m proud of the character shown by the group.

“We’ve taken a lot from the whole campaign, where the players have shown growth and development. It’s been a tough competition, but we want to win it so we’re all looking forward to the final now, which promises to be another really important evening for the Academy and the Club as a whole.

“It’s obviously a competition that means a lot to myself and everyone here. During the cup campaigns we’ve had in recent years where we’ve reached finals – and won it two years ago – there have been players within those teams who have gone on to make first team debuts for us or gone out on loan and really made an impact, so the exposure we get to these big evenings under the lights is vital. It’s a great tournament for us and hopefully we can go on to win the final.”

Charlton host United in the second semi-final on 11 March.