Academy side wins in Bellinzona

therecklessone

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/ladstriumphinbellinzona130409.html

Our Academy squad beat Sporting Lisbon to win the 'Tourneo Internazionale' in Bellinzona, Switzerland, on Monday night.

Early goals from Ryan Mason (pictured) and Nathan Byrne paved the way for the 2-1 success as the lads followed up Saturday's semi-final win over Barcelona.

The Portuguese side hit back after the break and we defended superbly to maintain the 2-1 lead with Oscar Jansson producing a key save with 15 minutes left.

Academy Manager John McDermott reported: "It was an excellent performance and the lads showed fantastic mentality.

"Ryan Mason opened the scoring with a free-kick curled in from a wide angle after five minutes and we went 2-0 up after eight minutes when Nathan Byrne produced a reaction finish from 15 yards after Calum Butcher's shot was blocked.

"We controlled it up to about 20 minutes but then started to lose momentum.

"They scored three minutes into the second half from a set-piece and we then had to defend our lines for the next 20 minutes. The lads did that manfully, got in blocks and the two centre-backs Calum and Steven Caulker headed everything away. Sam Cox was also very good in a holding midfield role.

"Oscar Jansson had to make one Schmeichel-esque save with his feet with 15 minutes left. It was no fluke save, as he does it all the time in training and it was a match-winning save, as good as scoring a goal.

"We finished the game well, we were in control having weathered the storm and the lads can be proud of themselves."

Spurs: Jansson, Smith, Nicholson (Ekim, 55), Cox, Butcher, Caulker, Byrne, Parrett, Oyenuga, Mason, Kasim (Kane, 65).

We also beat Barcelona in the SF.

I think this shows the Academy side of things working very nicely, bearing in mind we've let a few of the regular lads go out on loan until the seasons end. We also had the youngest squad out there, quite a few of the lads are only 16 or 17.





Alex Inglethorpe and his team are doing great work.

Here's some video from a few other games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzmFH8uepok

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qIg9Oxh0No

Hatch99

Lets hope 1 or 2 of them develop in to first team players, as its been way too long since we had a homegrown Spurs player come up through the ranks.