Four goal involvements for Kyerematen in big win for Under-21s

Rio Kyerematen was directly involved in all four of our goals as our Under-21s swept Birmingham City aside 4-0 at Hotspur Way on Sunday afternoon.

Nutmegging Zaid Betteka to set up Matthew Craig's opener and maiden goal in Lilywhite just before half-time - a long range strike which the midfielder has confirmed didn't take a touch off James Rowswell on the way through to goal - Rio was then on the scoresheet himself on the hour mark as he headed in Rowswell's delicate cross.

He added his second of the afternoon with eight minutes to play as Ellis Lehane unselfishly teed him up on the edge of the area before he became provider once more in added time as his corner was brilliantly finished by Luca Furnell-Gill for his first goal in our colours.

In our first ever meeting with Birmingham City in the Premier League 2, recent recruit James Wilson made his first start since his loan switch from Heart of Midlothian at the start of the month.

We made a brilliant start to the game and were unlucky not to be ahead inside two minutes as Reiss Russell-Denny blazed a volley wide of the target from six yards out. Birmingham, however, posed a threat on the break and could have also broken the deadlock with a quarter of an hour played as Caleb Saunders twice hit the crossbar in a matter of seconds.

Despite that brief scare though, we largely controlled proceedings throughout the first 45 minutes albeit without really testing Will O'Sullivan in the Blues net. Rowswell did see an effort cleared off the line with 20 minutes played but it wasn't until two minutes before the break where we really made our dominance pay off - and that was the opener.

A long-range strike from Craig sailed through a few bodies, including that of Rowswell, and into the back of the net. It looked like captain Rowswell had got the telling touch to divert the ball past the goalkeeper but the centre-back, who has been quite the goalscorer already this campaign, did not claim a touch, gesturing in celebration that it was in fact Craig's goal.

The game opened up in the second period and the influence of Kyerematen started to pay off. Having just seen Rowswell send a header wide from a corner, the defender turned provider on the hour mark with a cross from the right and Kyerematen was alive to the ball, twisting his body brilliantly to glance the ball with his head into the left-hand corner, doubling our advantage.

Late substitute Lehane then left his mark on the game. Contributing with a fine cameo, the striker was unlucky not to score within two minutes of being introduced as his close-range effort was saved brilliantly by O'Sullivan. When returning to the box four minutes later though, he chose a different option, this time to unselfishly play the ball to Kyerematen who drove home from the edge of the area to add our third.

The visitors were continually looking to spring forward on the counter and came close to getting on the scoresheet when Alezandro Da Silva won a header in the box, however Carey Bloedorn was alive to the danger and made the save. Our threat was also unrelenting though and in added time we added a fourth as Kyerematen's corner was quite brilliantly volleyed home by Furnell-Gill.

The victory moves us up to seventh in the Premier League 2 table.

Match data

Goals: Craig 43, Kyerematen 60, 82, Furnell-Gill 90+3

Yellow cards: Birmingham - Ahmed, Maddox, Quirk.

Referee: James Bancroft

Venue: Hotspur Way

Weather: Cloudy before rainy spells, 10 degrees