Two goals in each half gave our Under-18s a dominant win at Arsenal to move to within two points of the top of the table on Tuesday.
A clinical opener from Reiss Elliott-Parris was added to by George Feeney as we opened up a 2-0 lead inside 19 minutes at London Colney, with Feeney doubling his tally at the start of an impressive second-half showing to put the game out of the Gunners’ reach.
Emerson Nwaneri capitalised on a mistake at the back to get Arsenal off the mark against the run of play in the 84th minute, but Miracle Adewole quickly replied with his first goal of the season on the counter-attack to round off a superb 4-1 win.
The result saw us close the gap to leaders Chelsea at the top of the Under-18 Premier League’s southern division, although the Blues have two games still in hand.
Oliver Boast’s tireless running down the right side caused Arsenal all manner of problems throughout the game and after an early low delivery bound for Elliott-Parris in the middle was well cut out by defender Angelinou Pedro, it was he who did well to stay on his feet under a challenge as he pushed forward through the middle of the pitch before playing in Elliott-Parris, who finished low into the bottom corner to give us a sixth-minute lead.
Goalkeeper Dylan Thompson made a vital block to prevent Brando Bailey-Joseph from getting the hosts back on level terms shortly afterwards, with our second goal subsequently strengthening our grip on the game as Tye Hall’s excellent raking pass from deep was well controlled by Feeney, who carried it wide of goalkeeper Khari Ranson before finishing expertly from a tight angle.
Ceadach O’Neill cracked a long-range effort against the crossbar as Arsenal went close to a reply, but we kept them largely at bay for the remainder of the first half before producing an excellent second-half display to take the game away from them. Indeed, we started with purpose after the break and after Adewole fired over with a good chance after more good work on the right from Boast, Feeney doubled his tally with a right-footed shot from 18 yards out in the 48th minute to further stretch our advantage.
Adewole’s low shot was kept out by Ranson and substitute Armend Muslika whistled a low drive beyond the far post after a fine diagonal pass from Tyler Tingey as we dominated proceedings, although a sloppy mistake in defence allowed Nwaneri an opening to pull one back for the Gunners with six minutes remaining. We got straight back on the front foot, though, and after dealing with an Arsenal corner, Adewole ran clean through on goal from inside our own half to complete a resounding win. It could have been even more in truth, Elliott-Parris with two chances in stoppage time that went begging, but we’d done more than enough as our unbeaten run at this level extended into a sixth game.
‘We arguably should have scored more’
Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr, who took charge of his first game in the reverse fixture at Hotspur Way back in November, was particularly pleased with how we performed after half-time: “I thought the second-half performance was strong and we looked like the team that was going to create more opportunities to score,” he reflected. “In previous weeks, we’ve probably been a bit critical around not having that threat in the final third, whereas if you look at the second half today, we had loads of opportunities and arguably should have scored a few more. Overall, it’s a pleasing performance.”
On tasting north London derby victory, he added: “You sensed in the build-up to the game how much emphasis the players put on the derby, especially as they’ve grown up playing against this group of Arsenal players for years. Some of them know each other – Tyler Tingey was telling me he went to school with one of their players – so they’ve been around each other for a long time, meaning there’s that added factor that adds even more spice to the game. I think that’s important because it prepares them for big games in future.”