Under-21s salvage deserved point before shootout defeat at Cheltenham

Our Under-21s’ Vertu Trophy campaign came to an end with a 2-2 draw and subsequent penalty shootout defeat at Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night.

Both teams knew they were unable to qualify for the knockout stages before kick-off at the EV Charger Points Stadium and were thus left playing solely for pride on the third and final matchday in Southern Group B – and our depleted side certainly did that, producing some good football and twice coming back from behind to level through Oli Irow and captain Rio Kyerematen.

The latter’s goal came just a minute from time as we avoided what would have been a harsh defeat in the regulation 90 to claim a deserved share of the spoils, but after both he and Leo Black were denied from the spot by Joe Day and Reiss Russell-Denny fired over the bar, it was the League Two hosts who triumphed 3-1 in the resulting penalty shootout to claim an additional point in the final reckoning.

We were without a host of regular Under-21s campaigners in Gloucestershire – goalkeeper Day was the sole survivor from the Robins’ weekend win over Walsall – but after falling behind inside five minutes when Josh Martin lashed high into the net following a good central move, we played our way into the game and soon began to threaten, although arguably not enough over the course of the contest to really put the hosts to the sword.

Kyerematen’s excellent solo run into the box unfortunately came to nothing while Max McFadden squandered a glorious chance to mark his first start for the club with a goal, Day making himself big to block the midfielder’s shot one-on-one after a deflected strike from the lively Yusuf Akhamrich fell kindly for him in the box.

Akhamrich had a hand in our first equaliser on 26 minutes, beating his man on the right flank and driving a low delivery across the box which found its way to Irow, whose well-taken first-time shot went in off the far post. Defender Pele Arganese-McDermott denied Tommy Taylor a certain goal with a good block at the other end just afterwards, with the same player then thwarted by Luca Gunter, who made an excellent one-on-one save to prevent him from restoring his side’s advantage.

We kept the hosts largely at bay for the first half of the second period but just as we entered the last quarter of the game, George Harmon’s cross from the left fell suddenly for Taylor, who finally got his goal as he turned it instinctively into the net for 2-1. Akhamrich later had a penalty appeal waved away after going down in the Cheltenham box while Arganese-McDermott’s cushioned header was comfortable for Day as we pushed to take at least something from the game – and a minute from time our determination was rewarded as Akhamrich’s cut-back found Kyerematen, his first effort hit the bar but he buried his second attempt to ensure we didn’t leave empty-handed.

With the scores level at the end of the game, we went to penalties as per competition rules but Dan Batty – on as a substitute just beforehand – was the only one of our four takers to hit the back of the net, with Day saving Kyerematen’s first and Black’s third attempts before Russell-Denny sent the last one over the top. Cheltenham scored all three of their necessary spot-kicks to seal their shootout success.

‘We played very well between both boxes’

Under-21s Coach Wayne Burnett felt the initial draw was a fair result, telling us: “I thought we dominated the ball for long spells without at times threatening their goal as much as we would’ve liked, but I didn’t think they threatened our goal much either and there were limited chances overall.

“We played very well between both boxes, some of our football was very good but we just failed to threaten at times in the final third. We had a lot of the ball but a draw was probably a fair reflection based on the chances that both teams created.”

Penalty shootout

Spurs – Kyerematen – saved
Cheltenham – Pell – scored
Spurs – Batty – scored
Cheltenham – Sohna – scored
Spurs – Black – saved
Cheltenham – Taylor – scored
Spurs – Russell-Denny – missed

Match data

Goals: Cheltenham – Martin 5, Taylor 67; Spurs – O Irow 26, Kyerematen 89.

Yellow cards: Cheltenham – Willcox 8, Kinsella 29, Harmon 90; Spurs – Cassanova 59.

Referee: Declan Brown.

Venue: The EV Charger Points Stadium, Cheltenham.

Weather: Partly cloudy, gentle breeze, 10 degrees.

Attendance: 2,383.