Having seen us fall behind to Harry French’s early shot, the 17-year-old attacking midfielder took matters into his own hands, cracking in three strikes that spanned 10 minutes and six seconds to put us firmly in command at Hotspur Way.
French later pulled one back with Oliver Boast making it 4-2 just before the break, but Muslika – who made his Under-18s debut in last season’s final-day clash with the Baggies, almost a year ago to the day – had the last word 11 minutes from time with another excellent effort to round off the scoring.
Without a victory in four coming into the game after running table-topping Chelsea close in recent months, it was a welcome return to winning ways for Jamie Carr’s side and meant we successfully held off the late-season charge of Aston Villa to cement a creditable second-place finish in the Under-18 Premier League southern division.
Reiss Elliott-Parris saw his early shot well saved by West Brom goalkeeper Maxwell Moses, but it was the visitors who forged ahead after six minutes when French fired across goal and into the far corner from the right angle inside the box. We were level five minutes later, though, as Oscar Sandiford won a strong challenge on the right side, the ball was worked to Elliott-Parris who twisted and turned in the middle of the box with the ball eventually breaking to Muslika, who drilled home.
The game developed into quite a physical battle but we were always a threat, particularly in the first half, Muslika’s quality in and around the box coming to the fore as he lashed high into the net from 20 yards to double his tally on 13 minutes before producing a great turn just outside the area and advancing before drilling home for his hat-trick with 21 on the watch.
We conceded cheaply on 26 minutes when French’s shot from the left angle squirmed beyond the grasp of Dylan Thompson but we continued to get shots in on goal, both Muslika and Boast testing Moses before Boast collected Conall Glancy’s pass in a pocket of space coming in off the right, pushed on and blasted a left-footed shot inside the far post to restore our two-goal cushion two minutes before the break.
Centre-forward Justin Seven-Seven – one of three half-time substitutes for the Baggies – gave the visitors more of a threat up front in the second half and we found it difficult to carve out as many shooting opportunities as we’d had in the first, but Boast and Glancy still went close before another cracker from Muslika set the seal on our victory 11 minutes from time, the midfielder getting the ball out from under his feet and again firing high into the net, bringing up his 15th league goal of the season.
‘Pleased with our ruthlessness’
Coach Jamie was full of praise for Muslika after the game, telling us: “Armend produced three moments that unlocked West Brom in a really nice way and showed his level in tight areas with his ability to shoot through legs or to shape a finish. I was pleased with how ruthless we were in the game – partly him and partly Ollie Boast – as we really showed our level in and around the box.”
With third-placed Aston Villa edging to a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace, we stayed ahead of them on goal difference to finish second after an impressive overall campaign at this level.
“When you look at the season as a whole, there were a lot of pleasing parts and some strong performances, particularly in the middle with that spell where we were winning a lot of games in a row and I think the second-years played a big part in terms of understanding what it takes to win,” Jamie added. “There was a hunger and an honesty within the group to try to do the right things every day and a willingness to learn, so I was pleased with what the players showed day to day in training and then into the games. We were in the hunt to push for the league for a while but just towards the end we faded slightly, although overall we’re pleased with the mentality to train every day and take on learnings.”
Line-up
Spurs: D Thompson, Sandiford, Byrne (Myrtaj 66), Hanson, Tingey, Tye Hall (c) (Thomas 66), Boast (Vidal-Philbert 82), Glancy (Salter 73), Elliott-Parris, Muslika, Adewole. Substitute (not used): Doran.