Under-18s win 10-goal thriller against Arsenal

Some incredible goals were on show as our Under-18s won a thriller against Arsenal 6-4 at Hotspur Way to keep in touch with the league’s leading sides.

In an all-action contest in the Saturday morning sunshine, both teams led for spells during the first period, Luca Williams-Barnett cracking home a superb strike from distance to put Stuart Lewis’ side 2-1 up at one stage after Ellis Lehane had cancelled out Andre Harriman-Annous’ opener for the Gunners.

Having gone in level at 3-3 at the break, Jun’ai Byfield equalising after Daniel Casey’s brace had put the visitors back in front, we grabbed the upper hand with three more superb goals after the restart to see off our north London rivals.

Tynan Thompson’s wonderful solo run and finish was added to by an excellent header from a corner by Malachi Hardy, with Williams-Barnett cracking home a late free-kick to settle any nerves after Casey had completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot to make it 5-4 nine minutes from time.

Arsenal defender Sam Onyekachukwu had seen red moments earlier after bringing down Reiss Elliott-Parris as the visitors finished with 10 men, with the result keeping us nine points off the top in the Under-18 Premier League’s southern division with four games in hand.

For all the sparkling attacking play on display, coach Stuart, whose squad also has the Under-17 Premier League Cup final to look forward to in the coming weeks, will have been disappointed with how the visitors managed to get in behind our defence to create several opportunities of their own, particularly in the first half. Indeed, after Williams-Barnett missed a great chance with just a minute played, they got to the byline on the left through Marcell Washington, with his cut-back converted by Harriman-Annous in the third minute of the game.

Thompson forced Arsenal goalkeeper Jack Porter to tip over the bar and then hit the near post from the left angle before good pressing from our attackers led to Porter scuffing a clearance to Lehane, who drilled clinically inside the far post to restore parity on 12 minutes. Onyekachukwu thought he’d headed the visitors back in front from a free-kick but saw his effort ruled out for offside, before the game swung in our favour mid-way through the half as Under-16s players Byfield and Williams-Barnett combined, the former playing a superb pass forward for the latter to crack a shot into the top corner from 25 yards out.

Casey wrestled back the advantage for the Gunners, though, evading Byfield as he jumped out from the back line and driving into space before finishing well into the far bottom corner just beyond the half-hour mark, then firing inside the near post from a similar position after Tye Hall’s attempt to play forward was thwarted and Louis Zecevic-John set him up three minutes before half-time. Arsenal, who had also been denied by a couple of brave blocks from goalkeeper Sam Archer, appeared to be going in at the break in front, but Byfield had other ideas, ramming home from inside the box after a corner was knocked down to him to make it 3-3.

The chances continued to come after the break, although we had more of them with Elliott-Parris going through on goal, only to be thwarted by a tackle from behind by Onyekachukwu, before left winger Thompson collected the ball on his flank, worked his way brilliantly into the box and then clipped a low shot across Porter and into the net to give us the lead once again just prior to the hour mark.

Arsenal’s Louie Copley was denied by Archer and then Byfield as the Gunners tried to force their way back into the game, but we held firm and bagged a crucial fifth goal with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining, defender Hardy – who played at right-back for most of the contest – superbly heading Harry Byrne’s corner inside the far post to register his first goal at this level.

Six minutes later, Arsenal narrowed the gap once more when Byrne was adjudged to have fouled Max Dowman in the box and Casey sent Archer the wrong way from the spot to complete his treble – and we were then indebted to Hardy for a fearless block with his face to prevent Dowman from levelling it up at five apiece. However, the visitors suffered a blow when Onyekachukwu was given his marching orders for his foul on Elliott-Parris in added time, with Williams-Barnett firing the resulting free-kick high into the net to complete the scoring in a remarkable derby.

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‘An unbelievable scoreline!’

After what was incredibly our second 6-4 win at this level this term – we also defeated Crystal Palace by the same scoreline on the season’s opening day – coach Stuart was delighted to claim the spoils against our rivals.

“It's a brilliant day for us – to beat Arsenal at any level is always a really proud day for the staff and the players, so to get the three points was great and the performance we had at times today was excellent as well. It was a real end-to-end game in the first half and we felt we could have been a little bit more aggressive without the ball and done the basics a bit better without the ball, but some of the in-possession and final-third work was outstanding and the goals were worthy of winning any game. In the second half we really controlled the game and in the end it was 6-4 – an unbelievable scoreline! Overall, I’m really pleased for the players.”

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