Tottenham Hotspur’s development squad crashed out of the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday night after being thrashed 3-0 by League One side Oxford United at the second round stage.
Oxford United raced to a 2-0 lead within the first twenty minutes of the game courtesy of two set-piece headers from Charlie Raglan and Sam Smith.
While Tottenham’s young guns managed to wrestle back control of the game after that, they failed to convert any of the chances they created. Oxford, however, struck again early in the second half, to put the game beyond Tottenham’s reach.
Jack Roles had the best chance for the young Spurs side when his curling effort came back off the post and Kaziah Sterling was denied by a last-ditch block in the box as the ball fell at his feet.
Speaking to the official Spurs site, development squad coach Wayne Burnett conveyed his disappointment at the nature of the goals conceded.
He said, ” We’ve conceded three goals from set pieces and crosses into the box and that’s the harsh reality of League football. This is a tough game. It’s unforgiving and it’s relentless. If you want to be part of that you need to understand what’s required.”
“We were playing against a good team in good form. We played some decent stuff though and created one or two chances. Kazaiah Sterling had a chance at 2-0 and if that had gone in, we’d have been back in it. Jack Roles had a chance as well, hitting the post, but Oxford were a bit more clinical than us in both boxes and that was the difference.”
“On the third goal, we could have cleared the ball. We had two opportunities to do so but we didn’t. If you don’t defend set pieces and crosses well enough and you don’t defend well from the restart, that’s where a lot of goals are scored from and we were punished there tonight.”
However, Burnett did reiterate that the result could prove a learning experience for our development squad and benefit from playing against senior opposition.
He added, “Obviously we don’t want to lose football matches but as long as you take something from it, learn from it and move forward from it, that’s the most important thing. If we can do that, then these games are massively beneficial for us.”
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