Canaries lose out to Tottenham Hotspur Under-18s

Tottenham got the better start of the two teams, applying pressure to the young Canaries early and mainly seeing themselves on the attack in the first ten minutes.

Their attacking pressure was hard to contain for the City side, seen when captain Saxon Earley was sent off in just the twelfth minute for a second bookable offence. 

Down to ten men, it wouldn’t take long for Spurs to find their opener. Tarrelle Whittaker found that goal for the north London side, firing a cross at the far post across the face of goal. Jaden Warner nearly managed to clear it off the line, but could only get studs on the ball as it bundled in. 

Capitalising on the sending off, Tottenham doubled up on their lead three minutes later, when Kallum Cesay put away a nice finish to Sam Blair’s near post from ten yards out. 

The Canaries managed to pick themselves up despite the early uphill battle, Sean Stewart leading a surge forward to the visitors’ goal. The run ended in a lay-off to Kamara, who’s cross was just high of any City shirt.

Rounding off the half on the front foot, Romaine Mundle looked to find Spurs’ third goal from range, prompting an excellent save from Blair to keep the scores at two.

Ending the first-half with ten men and a two-goal deficit, a big second half was needed from the young Canaries to save themselves any points from this clash.

Coming out for the last 45 minutes, the Canaries looked much sharper as they chased the scoring. Substitute Oscar Thorn showed this when he almost found City’s first goal in the 59th minute, forcing Thimothee Lo-Tutala to make a scrambling save on the goal line. 

Chasing the elusive goal they needed to get back into the game, the Canaries showed compact defending with ten men in the mean time, keeping Spurs quiet in front of goal for the second half. 

Continuing their pursuit, Thorn found himself with another chance to find a goal. Making a darting run and setting the ball on his left-foot, the forward fired from the edge of the 18-yard box, his shot just saved by the Spurs shot-stopper again. 

Despite continued efforts, the young Canaries wouldn’t manage to find that goal, seeing Spurs take all three points and a clean sheet back to north London at full-time. 

Norwich City Starting XI: Blair, Jackson, Hills, Warner, Stewart, Rowe (Okeowo, 70), Khumbeni, Earley (c), Duffy (Alidor-Hamilton, 63), Dickson-Peters, Kamara (Thorn, 46)
Subs not used: Brooke
Goals: N/A 
Bookings: Earley (7, 12) Stewart (12) Rowe, (40), Hills (85)

Tottenham Hotspur starting XI: Lo-Tutala (c), Lusala (Michael Craig, 59), Hackett, Matthew Craig (Carrington-Alberdi, 72) Muir, Paskotsi, Whittaker, Cesay, Scarlett, Santiago (Haysman, 72), Mundle
Subs not used: Hayton
Goals: Whittaker (17) Cesay (21)
Bookings: Mundle (67), Cesay (70)