The goals wouldn’t stop going in at Tottenham Hotspur Academy on Saturday as we were beaten 6-4 in the U18 Premier League South.
Andre Harriman-Annous gave us a third-minute lead before Ellis Lehane pulled one back for the hosts.
Luca Jamie Williams-Barnett made it 2-1 to Spurs before Dan Casey netted twice with half-time approaching. Jun’ai Byfield equalised on the brink of the break though to make it 3-3.
Spurs went ahead in the 59th minute courtesy of Tynan Thompson and Malachi Hardy made it five with 15 minutes remaining.
Casey completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot with nine minutes to go to offer some hope, but Williams-Barnett completed his brace deep in stoppage time for 6-4, after we’d been reduced to 10 men following a sending off for Samuel Onyekachukwu.
WHAT HAPPENED
Marcell Washington played the ball into the centre of the box and Harriman-Annous slotted it into the bottom right corner early on before Spurs pulled one back.
Jack Porter gave the ball way to Lehane, who smashed it into the bottom left.
Onyekachukwu had the ball in the back of the net with a header following a lovely Ceadach O'Neill free-kick, but the flag was raised for offside.
Spurs then took the lead as Williams-Barnett hit a strike from 30 yards out into the top right corner.
We responded through Casey, who got his first of the afternoon when he found himself in acres of space and rifled the ball into the bottom right corner for 2-2.
In the 43rd minute, Louis Zecevic-John put it on a plate for Cosey, who poked the ball into the bottom left corner to restore our lead, but it was short lived.
A corner whipped in by Williams-Barnett ricocheted into Byfield’s path and he volleyed home to wrap up an end-to-end first half.
The hosts went ahead again in the 59th minute as Thompson went on a mazy solo run and scored across goal, and four became five as a corner was flicked on by Hardy into the bottom left.
Max Dowman was brought down in the penalty area with nine minutes to go and Casey stepped up to dispatch from the spot, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way and reducing the arrears.
Our task was made more difficult though one minute into added time as Onyekachukwu was sent off for bringing down Reiss Elliot-Parris, who was through on goal.
Williams-Barnett rubbed the salt in the wounds late on as he smashed the resulting free-kick into the top right corner.
WHAT IT MEANS
We’re now ninth in the league with 19 points from 14 games.
WHAT’S NEXT
We head to Chelsea on Tuesday for an 11am kick-off at Cobham Training Ground.
LINE-UPS
Tottenham Hotspur XI: Archer, Hardy, Upson (Furnell-Gill 80), Byfield, Byrne, Bangura (Batty 52), Hall (Moncur 52), Adewole, Williams-Barnett, Thompson, Lehane (Elliott-Parris 49).
Substitutes (not used): Thompson.
Arsenal XI: Porter, Ibrahim, Onyekachukwu, Clarke, Washington (Ismail 65), Casey, Copley, O’Neill (Chapman 67), Dowman, Harriman-Annous, Zecevic-John (Oyetunde 74).
Substitutes (not used): Ranson, Marciniak.