For the fifth straight game, Brennan Johnson scored to lead a young Tottenham team to a hard-fought 2-1 Europa League victory at Ferencvaros.
In Budapest, Ange Postecoglou started four teenagers in the starting lineup. Mikey Moore, then 17 years old, had a fantastic run on his full debut, setting up Pape Sarr‘s opening goal in the 23rd minute. With four minutes remaining, Sarr scored his second goal of the match as Spurs held off some late pressure from the Hungarian champions to seal the victory with a left-footed finish. In the ninetieth minute, Barnabas Varga volleyed home to set up a frantic finish, but Tottenham held on to record their fifth straight victory.
Postecoglou gave academy graduates Moore and Will Lankshear their full debuts and made seven changes from the team’s victory over Manchester United over the weekend.
The Ferencvaros supporters created a boisterous and threatening atmosphere when Spurs’ young players took the field, but the visitors prevailed after Varga missed an early chance.
Moore’s impact began to spread in May when he became the youngest player to play in the Premier League for Tottenham. Moore demonstrated his skill with a beautiful move and delivery over the goal’s face. After a great ball from Yves Bissouma, Sarr’s low effort was saved by Denes Dibusz, but minutes later Lankshear headed over a cross from Timo Werner. With 16 minutes remaining, Adama Traore headed in Eldar Civic’s cross for Ferencvaros to take the lead, but Ben Davies was called offside, which was later verified after a protracted VAR assessment.
Although the ball had initially gone out of play, Guglielmo Vicario was forced to make an incredible stop to deny Varga from close range, lifting the home team and forcing Postecoglou’s men to weather the storm. Moore kept up his impressive play, and in the 23rd minute, the highly-regarded young player assisted in setting up Spurs’ first goal after booking Civic. Moore outran Cristian Ramirez with a deft dribble, and Sarr’s attempted pass into Lankshear rolled in ideal for the goal from six yards out. The 1,200 traveling fans watched the Tottenham players celebrate before Sarr missed another opportunity with a right-footed shot after Lankshear’s deft layoff. It was almost 2-0 again when Pedro Porro cut inside Mohammed Abu Fani and curled a left-footed effort which hit the post and avoided Lankshear at the back post.
After 49 minutes, there was a brief delay in the second half as smoke from flares set off by Ferencvaros supporters became visible. By now, Vicario had already denied Matheus Saldanha, but the visitors rallied and Cristian Romero, acting as captain, had a header turned over before Lankshear volleyed wide. Spurs kept creating chances, and shortly after the hour, they ought to have scored twice in a short period of time.
First, with Ferencvaros players encircling him, Archie Gray drag-faked to Davies. The ball was then recycled to Bissouma, a Lankshear player, but the youthful striker was tackled.
After a brief intermission of two minutes, Moore gave Werner a lovely through pass; however, he attempted to sidestep Dibusz and fired into the sidenetting. After 65 minutes, Postecoglou looked to Johnson, James Maddison, and Dejan Kulusevski. Johnson almost sealed up the points with 10 minutes left but shot against the crossbar after Gray passed him in. Before Johnson did seal the win in the 86th minute, Gray had to stop Abu Fani’s shot after Cebrails Makreckis missed with a blood-scenting shot from Ferencvaros.
Following Maddison’s clearance of Dominic Solanke’s intended pass into Johnson, the Wales international cut inside and deflected into the bottom corner before celebrating in front of the home crowd. As the clock approached ninety, Varga set up a suspenseful finish by sliding in a cross from Ramirez, but Postecoglou saw his team hold on to make it two wins from two in the league phase.
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