Despite falling behind in the clash at Stevenage with Teddie Lamb on target for the visitors, we responded brilliantly, equalising through Luca Williams-Barnett two minutes later.
With our tails up, we really exuded confidence late in the half and went on to turn the game in our favour, first through an exquisite goal from Miracle Adewole on 41 minutes before Olusesi produced one of his own three minutes later.
The midfielder then grabbed a second 20 minutes into the second period as he continued his impressive form after his return from injury before City scored a late consolation with Lamb adding another to his tally with 17 minutes remaining.
While it ended up being a six-goal game, you wouldn't have expected that to be the final outcome after the first 25 minutes, which produced very little action of note. As both sides looked to work each other out, there were half-chances at best, the most promising of which came for us - a back-post effort from Adewole which was well saved by Max Chabot.
The deadlock was ultimately broken after a mistake. Maeson King didn't get the desired connection on a clearance which put Lamb through one-on-one with Archer, the forward rounding the goalkeeper before firing the ball home on the half-hour mark. Two minutes later, though, we were level, Olusesi winning the ball high before playing in Williams-Barnett to round the goalkeeper himself and stroke home.
The timing of the goal, so soon after City's opener, really swung the tide of the game in our favour and we really seemed to take a lot of confidence from it. We sprung into life and found our rhythm after that moment, playing some exquisite football before effectively taking the game away from the visitors. On 41 minutes, we took the lead with Tyrese Hall producing a pretty magical back-heel flick from Williams-Barnett's ball forward to move it in to Ellis Lehane who then teed up Adewole to slam home. We had breathing room moments later with Olusesi demonstrating some individual brilliance to evade three players in the right-hand side of the box before sending the ball through goalkeeper Chabot and in.
We continued in that vein into the second period and were unlucky not to add a fourth 10 minutes in as Williams-Barnett had the ball in the back of the net, only for the referee to deem there had been a foul in the build-up. The forward was in again three minutes later but was denied by Chabot although Olusesi was not to be stopped on 66 minutes as, after some industrious work from Tyrese Hall, the midfielder curled in our fourth and his second from the edge of the area.
It was only then that City came back into the game with the impressive Lamb causing issues. Archer had produced a good save to prevent the forward grabbing a second of his own on 72 minutes as he prodded towards goal, but our shot stopper could do littlle a minute later when Lamb bundled the ball in from a matter of yards out.
However, that was really the visitors' last real effort in the game. Instead, if any team was more likely to add to the scoreline, it was us, and perhaps Reiss Elliott-Parris, who had scored in every one of our league games this term up to this point, should have done better with his wayward effort on 85 minutes.
‘We created some good chances’
Under-21s Coach Wayne Burnett was pleased with his team’s display: “Our performance at times was very good, we played some good football and created some good chances, although we probably didn’t hit the heights that we have done in some of our previous games,” he reflected. “Having said that, I was really pleased that we’ve managed to create as many chances as we have done.
“It was very pleasing to see Callum, Luca and Miracle on the scoresheet – Callum and Luca have been able to get some invaluable minutes under their belts – and overall it was a good team performance. We’ve now come through this block of games going into the international break and are still unbeaten in the league – as I said, we probably didn’t hit the heights that I know we’re capable of, but nevertheless it was still a very good win.”
Line-ups
Spurs: Archer, Rowswell (c), King (Feeney 83), Hardy, Dorrington, Tye Hall (Byrne 65), Adewole, Olusesi (McFadden 77), Tyrese Hall, Williams-Barnett (Elliott-Parris 65), Lehane (Sowunmi 77). Substitutes (not used): Knightbridge, Ramsey.
Manchester City: Chabot, Nfonkeu (Headley 67), H Parker (Wain 46), Drake, Henderson-Hall, Noble (c), Dunbar-McDonald (Midwood 77), Miles, Lamb, Fapetu (Gorman 67), X Parker. Substitutes (not used): Hudson, Courtman, Tevenan.
Match data
Goals: Spurs - Williams-Barnett 31, Adewole 41, Olusesi 44, 66; Manchester City - Lamb 29, 73.
Yellow cards: Spurs - Tye Hall 26; Manchester City - Noble 7, Dunbar-McDonald 27.
Referee: Richie Watkins.
Venue: Stevenage FC.
Weather: Cloudy but dry, 19 degrees.
Attendance: 345.