Spurs U18 3 Man United U18 1

The Under 18 tie was an entertaining affair tonight as Tottenham Hotspur took on Manchester United at White Hart Lane in the last 16 of the FA Youth Cup. David Pleat, Rob Mackenzie and former record signing Chris Perry (£4m from Wimbledon 1n 1999) were all in the crowd watching proceedings.

Spurs U18's celebrate after beating Benfica to win the Champions Cup in September last year

Tottenham are three times winners of the tournament, 1970 when Graeme Souness scored against Coventry City, in 1974 when he beat Huddersfield Town and in 1990 when we had Ian Walker in goal against Middlesbrough. Spurs have twice been runners-up, to West Ham in 1981 after beating Man United in a previous round and when we lost to the same team in the 1995 final.

The Spurs lads played in typical Spurs style, high energy high pressing and good passing.We started lively and had the better of the game for the first 23 minutes. It took 20 minutes to beak the deadlock with Josh Onomah on the ball frequently. The goal came from a corner which wasn't a great one being low at the near post, but it made it's way across the six yard box and Giorgiou reacted first to stab it home.

It took United just 5 minutes to strike back out of the blue. A free-kick from 30 yards was beautifully hit and beat Voss at his near post from their top scorer Marcus Rashford. he was the one player who you felt a little nervous about looking vulnerable at times but wasn't given a great deal to do by United.

The score at half-time was 1-1 but 17 minutes later Spurs were back in front 2-1. Man United had the ball in the Spurs net but it was disallowed for offside. Spurs went up the other end down the right side and Azzaoui on the left was free. He moved central and two passes later he nicely chipped over the on-rushing keeper from 14 yards.

A period of possession after 70 minutes saw the ball played to right-back Walker-Peters near the right hand touchline in his own half. He played a long ball down the line over the full-backs head for Anthony Giorgiou who was about to be substituted. He out ran the defender cut inside into the box and from a tight angle tucked the ball with his left foot between the keepers legs.

That earned him a reprieve as Azzaoui was substituted instead. Centre-forward harrison was taken off after 77 minutes with Sterling taking his place. Tottenham continued to play possession based football and pressed United high.

After 82 minutes Stylianides was replaced by Charlie Owens who has been at Spurs since he was 10. Right until the end of the game United failed to press us high enough and our fitness showed as we kept possession and comfortably saw the game out.

Result: Tottenham 3 Manchester United 1

Tottenham U18 XI: Voss, Walker-Peters, Walkes, Amos, Maghoma, Carter-Vickers, Georgiou, Stylianides, Harrison, Onomah (c), Azzaoui.
Tottenham Subs: Owens, Edwards, Sterling, Loft, Glover (GK)
Manager: Kieran McKenna

McKenna was a Tottenham graduate but a persistent injury meant he had to retire early and take up studies at Loughborough University. At 38 he is now coaching the Spurs Under 18 side after winning the Premier League South title with us in 2006.