Our north London rivals appeared to be in the best position to open the score in the first 20 minutes, but we held firm.
Ovie Ejeheri got a touch on the ball as Will Lankshear attempted to raise it over him almost immediately after kick-off, but James Sweet was on there to clear the threat with a fine sliding tackle from a Jamie Donley cross.
The Spurs number ten then attempted a long-range shot, which went high over the crossbar. Moments later, Ejeheri got both hands on his free kick at the near post, before Josh Nichols cleared a Lankshear cross and then showed quick reflexes to head away the rebound.
After Lankshear nodded the resulting set-piece into the side netting, George Abbott had a shot deflected onto the crossbar. The game still goalless, we began a period of more positive attacking movements, firstly courtesy of a brilliant through ball from Nichols to Amario Cozier-Duberry. The latter tucked the ball into the back of net but was judged to have timed his run too late and the flag went up for offside. Receiving the ball from Jack Henry-Francis, Cozier-Duberry then turned nicely before timing a pass well through to Jimi Gower, who ran through on goal and saw his left-footed effort go straight at Luca Gunter.
Cozier-Duberry looked to replicate his trademark strike when he cut in from the right wing on the brink of half-time, but on this occasion his left-footed curler flew wide of the top left corner. Gunter parried away a Nwaneri cross and we went into the interval behind. Gower volleyed the ball over the bar early in the second half from Sweet’s cross before we had shouts for a penalty when Sweet went down under pressure. Nothing was given and Alonso struck straight at Ejeheri at the other end. Chances were few and far between until the 68th minute, when Gunter was on hound to gather a cross for Nathan Butler-Oyedeji and then deny Nwaneri. On the counter-attack, John fed Abbott but Ejeheri narrowed
We really began to pursue an equaliser with Lewis-Skelly at the centre of our chance creation. He spotted Sweet in a dangerous area, who shifted the ball onto his right foot but shot straight at Gunter. Lewis-Skelly played a great pass through to Gower on the left but the flag went up for offside, before the latter’s cross was headed over the bar by Butler-Oyedeji. Gunter got down to his left to make an important save after Gower worked his way into a close range shooting poison, and the Spurs goalkeeper then tipped an effort from Sweet onto the bar before getting across to his bottom left corner to save an overhead kick from Henry-Francis.
We came incredibly close to an equaliser as Butler-Oyedeji fired towards goal but Spurs cleared the danger just before the ball crossed the line. In the 90th minute, we got the equaliser our pressure richly deserved, Ismael Kabia – on as a second-half substitute – crossing for Nwaneri, who bounced the ball over the line for 1-1. Six minutes were added on at the end of the second half, during which Gunter made a double save to stop Nwaneri and Gower from finding a second goal.
We began the game dictating possession, with much of the play unfolding in Fulham’s half. Despite our dominance, clear-cut opportunities remained elusive. However, it was the hosts who nearly broke the deadlock first, as Farhan Ali-Wahid took aim at our goal. Jack Porter, making his debut for the under-18s, pulled off an incredible save to deflect Ali-Wahid’s effort onto the post. Our first opportunity arose when Louie Copley found Ismeal Kabia with a delightful pass on the right-hand side. Kabia skillfully navigated past two defenders but was denied by a solid save. Unfortunately, we conceded the opening goal on the half-hour mark, as Oliver Gofford placed his shot into the far left corner to give the hosts the lead. In the second half, we began
strongly, with Cam’ron Ismail almost levelling the score as he cut inside onto his right foot. However, his strike was tipped over for a corner. We then went close late on through Osman Kamara and Chido Obi-Martin but, despite our relentless efforts for the equaliser throughout the remainder of the match, luck wasn’t on our side in south-west London.
