Three of our own
Dane Scarlett. Oyindamola (Damola) Ajayi. Mikey Moore.
Three players from the Tottenham Hotspur Academy stole the headlines last night. All scoring their first goals for the club to send us through to the round of 16 of the Europa League. I said it on Twitter last night but with so much negativity surrounding the club, it’s nice to have moments like last night to remind you there’s always something on the horizon.
Nil all at the half. It seemed like it could be one of those nights where our opponents could get the better of us and when Radu went off injured with Dane Scarlett replacing him. We kind of feared for the worst, not cause he was being replaced by Dane, a player who was recalled after a difficult loan spell at Oxford United, but because we have yet another defender down injured. However, I don’t think any Spurs fans saw what was coming next. It was a tad surprising to see Dane come on instead of Will Lankshear, another academy player who had seen game time throughout the season. In all honesty, I always thought Dane suited our style of play more than Will. Nevertheless, Ange’s decision to bring Dane on proved the right one after he connected with Deki’s cross and gave us the lead. Not only was I relieved that we went ahead but because it was one of our own and honestly it really does hit differently when you have academy players make a difference.
The night was not over yet, on the 80th minute, off goes Richarlison and on comes Damola Ajayi, a player who hadn’t made a senior appearance yet, and on he comes to play on the right-wing. Then in the 84th minute, he picks up the ball on the right and cuts inside, he plays a one-two with Dane, takes a touch and fires it into the bottom right corner. Absolute scenes. Another academy product scores his first goal for the club. A player who has gone under the radar among the many other youngsters who have been talked about makes it 2-0 for Tottenham. Surely it can’t get any better? You bet your ass it can because in the final moments of the game, Mikey Moore, one of the players destined for greatness at Tottenham, wins the ball and makes a darting run down the middle, he gets to the edge of the box and dribbles off to his right, he then fires the ball into the bottom left corner and seals a memorable victory for Tottenham.
I know it was against IF Elfsborg in the Europa League but I can’t stress enough how much the players, Ange, the club and most of all the fans needed this. We’re in a very negative period where happy moments are almost non-existent but there’s nothing like having your club’s very own academy players scoring their first goals, giving you a moment of hope and making you forget even just for a night that we’re going through one of the toughest periods in the last 20 years. This result won’t erase our terrible form, it won’t make us forgive those running our club and won’t make us ignorant to the problems we’re facing but what it will do is give us hope that we are not done and we will not give up without a fight. You wanna know why? It’s who we are mate. COYS.
