We found it tough going against a hard-working Blues side and trailed to strikes from Salif Bamba and Riquelme Thompson-Jones, with Reiss Elliott-Parris and Ellis Lehane restoring parity before a thunderbolt from Tyrese Hall with just under 20 minutes remaining finally gave us the upper hand.
But the visitors didn’t relent and secured a share of the spoils through Menzi Mazwi’s deflected shot 12 minutes from time on a frustrating afternoon for our young players in Hertfordshire.
The draw was probably a fair result in the overall reckoning as we lacked intensity at times, although still produced some good spells on the ball. Indeed, Birmingham capitalised on a below-par start from us to take the lead inside three minutes when Bamba ran down the right channel and slotted home, but we recovered four minutes later when Elliott-Parris converted Lehane’s cut-back from the right.
Elliott-Parris went through again a few minutes later but advancing goalkeeper Tyrese Warmington did just enough to deny him and although we looked like the better team as the first half went on, Birmingham always carried a threat and they regained the advantage on 33 minutes when Mazwi nodded Finn McGreevy’s delivery down for Thompson-Jones to drill low across goal and into the bottom corner with Carey Bloedorn rooted to the spot.
Alezandro Da Silva’s angled shot was touched behind as the Blues almost snatched the lead for a third time while Tyrese Hall nearly scored a similar effort to the one he netted in last week’s win at Newcastle, albeit from the opposite side, as he turned inside his marker in the box and went for the far top corner, but this time Warmington produced a fine save to deny him.
Half-time substitute Sam Archer showed sharp reactions to prevent an own goal at the start of the second period when Tobi Ugorji’s drive almost deflected in off defender Maeson King while McGreevy drilled a shot wide as Birmingham again started strongly on the resumption, but once more we began to take control and after Lehane fired wide and Hall charged down Warmington’s attempted clearance which almost led to a goal, we equalised again on 56 minutes when Elisha Sowunmi burst down the left and his delivery found Hall, who teed up Lehane to plant low into the net.
McGreevy’s back-post header from a corner forced Archer into another save before we finally hit the front, Hall collecting possession just outside the box and picking out the top corner in style with 71 minutes on the watch. Harry Byrne missed the target when shooting from a similar position moments afterwards, but again we were thwarted by Birmingham when Mazwi’s deflected shot squirmed beyond the dive of Archer and into the net to make it 3-3. Lehane almost won it for us but saw his shot cleared off the line by defender Jack Quirk, who stood firm to deny Cole Ramsey on the follow-up, while Connor Reilly’s stoppage-time attempt for Birmingham was straight at Archer, the final whistle sounding soon afterwards to signal a share of the points.
‘We’re very disappointed’
Under-21s Coach Wayne Burnett lamented the performance, telling us after the game: “I thought we gave away some terrible goals. We came up against a Birmingham team that worked very, very hard but at times we didn’t play with the intensity that I know we usually play at and that was the most disappointing thing – conceding three goals and not playing with the intensity that I know we can. We’re very disappointed.”
Line-ups
Spurs: Bloedorn (Archer 46), Rowswell (c), Sowunmi, King (Feeney 61), Dorrington, Byrne (Moncur 87), Lehane, Tye Hall (McFadden 46), Elliott-Parris (Ramsey 74), Tyrese Hall, Ajayi. Substitutes (not used): Doran, Adedeji.
Birmingham City: Warmington, Thompson-Jones, Chahal, Burrell (c), Quirk, Maddox (Martin-Moore 68), Bamba (Wilson 57), Da Silva (Cook 79), Ugorji (Reilly 68), Mazwi, McGreevy. Substitute (not used): Birmingham.
Match data
Goals: Spurs – Elliott-Parris 7, Lehane 56, Tyrese Hall 71; Birmingham City – Bamba 3, Thompson-Jones 33, Mazwi 78.
Yellow card: Birmingham City – Quirk 38.
Referee: Dan Blades.
Venue: Stevenage FC.
Weather: Mild, moderate breeze, light showers, 21 degrees.
Attendance: 385.
