PL2 Cup Final: Tottenham well beaten by Fulham at Craven Cottage
Craven Cottage was the setting for an intriguing Premier League 2 cup final between two of the nation’s best academies: Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur earlier this week.
Fulham had cruised their way to the final two, impressively dispatching Crystal Palace and Chelsea in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. Tottenham, despite being PL2 league had to fight tooth and nail against Nottingham Forest in their semi-final to book their final place, overturning a three goal deficit from a poor first half with Yago Santiago’s 96th minute strike causing delight for all the Spurs players.
Tottenham, who defeated Fulham’s academy at their training ground 2-0 three weeks ago to secure the PL2 league phase title, were hindered by the absence of centre-back Alfie Dorrington which meant Tyrell Ashcroft, who is usually a full back, was called upon.
The visitors had a nightmare start which unfortunately set the tone of the game for Wayne Burnett’s side. Dante Cassanova was pressed ferociously by Terrell Works within the first two minutes, successfully dispossessing the centre half and sliding the ball across the box for Callum Osmand who nudged home the opener after only two and a half minutes.
The Cottagers then continued to infiltrate the Spurs backline, creating chance after chance with Luca Gunter making two big stops all inside the first fifteen minutes. However, Fulham & Callum Osmand did find their second goal of the game in the sixteenth minutes, coming from another effective Fulham press, this time from captain, Matt Dibley-Dias, who caught out fellow captain, George Abbott on the halfway line, feeding Osmand who was already in a goalscoring mood following his early goal. The 18-year-old found the space in Tottenham’s backline before powering his shot into the far left corner, wheeling away to celebrate his brace.
A frustrated Tottenham started to wrestle the control of the game away from the hosts following their second with Jamie Donley and Will Lankshear both coming close inside Spurs’ half an hour of dominance that was mainly stemming from Santiago and King’s consistent attacks down the left wing.
However, Spurs despite their respectable efforts to grab a goal before half time instead fell further behind. Devan Tanton curled a pinpoint cross onto the head of Callum Osmand who clinically looped his header back from the direction it came from and into the back of the Spurs net for the third time in the half.
Osmand’s header completed the perfect hat trick on a memorable night for the young forward, who had only just been promoted to the U21’s in late February. My match report of this fixture three weeks ago stated that Osmand caused Tottenham a ‘headache’, he was certainly giving Spurs at least a migraine in this fixture as he secured the match ball before the half time whistle had even been blown.
Wayne Burnett’s men looked mentally and physically fatigued in the first half, likely from the incredibly high volume of football that his young squad has played in the last month, partaking in the PL2 league & play-off phase as well as the PL2 cup meant that the U21’s were effectively player two games a week, Fulham on the other hand had only played twice in the last twenty days.
Despite the likely fatigue, Spurs did come out fast in the second half, desperately seeking a goal that could turn the final, much like it did for them in the semi-final, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Perhaps the desperation was too fervent however as Fulham had a fourth goal of the night only seven minutes into the second half. Terrell Works once again found space in behind the Tottenham left side of defence and drilled a low cross this time for George Okkas to tap in.
Spurs’ mountain had then become almost definitely unclimbable as Wayne Burrnett started to bring off star men such as Jamie Donley and Santiago with a play-off semi final against Chelsea in mind just days after.
The visitors saw out the rest of the final with no further damage suffered but would have to settle for a runners-up medal as their opposition lifted the Premier League Cup in front of a sizable crowd in their home stadium.
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