Spurs’ Under 21 side welcomed Blackburn Rovers to Stevenage’s Lamex Stadium on Saturday afternoon, for their last Premier League 2 fixture until after the international break. Wayne Burnett’s Spurs side won the game 4-0, performing excellently throughout the match. Luca Gunter started in goal for Spurs, as Tyrell Ashcroft, Alfie Dorrington, Brooklyn Lyons-Foster and Charlie Sayers started in defence. Captain Matthew Craig, Rio Kyerematen and Jamie Donley started in midfield, as Jude Soonsup-Bell and Yago Santiago started either side of Spurs’ centre-forward Will Lankshear. Spurs got the game underway. Quite early on in the game Spurs’ goalkeeper Luca Gunter collided with a teammate while trying to gather a Blackburn Rovers free-kick into the Spurs box, and this resulted in Gunter dropping the ball. However, Jamie Donley was able to clear it off of the line in time. Will Lankshear hit an effort wide on the turn at the other end of the pitch, before a good passing move resulted in a chance for Jude Soonsup-Bell. After receiving the ball on the left side of the Blackburn penalty area, Lankshear found Soonsup-Bell with a lofted pass, from which the former Chelsea player volleyed an effort on goal, but goalkeeper Jordan Eastham made a fine save.

Spurs had started the game well and after Soonsup-Bell had received Craig’s pass on the right side of the Blackburn penalty area, the Spurs forward came inside with the ball, before having his resulting effort saved by Eastham. Zack Stritch then had a back-heeled effort inside the Spurs box, saved comfortably by Gunter, following a good move from the away side. Rio Kyerematen had an effort blocked, before Spurs deservedly took the lead. Yago Santiago’s corner-kick found Jude Soonsup-Bell inside the Blackburn penalty area, and he cleverly guided the ball with his head, into the bottom right hand corner of Jordan Eastham’s goal, 1-0. Yago Santiago received a yellow card moments after the game got started again, before Luca Gunter saved relatively comfortably from Zack Stritch’s headed effort on the Spurs goal. After Lankshear and Soonsup-Bell had exchanged passes near the Blackburn Rovers penalty area, Lankshear had an effort from the edge of the box saved by Eastham. A decent chance for the away side resulted in Harrison Wood receiving the ball on the right side of the Spurs box, but his effort from a difficult angle went wide of the Spurs goal. Luca Gunter did save a low effort from the same player shortly after. Just before half-time Jude Soonsup-Bell received a yellow card.

Blackburn Rovers got the second half underway. Will Lankshear had an effort blocked on the edge of the Blackburn Rovers penalty area, and then a couple of moments later the Spurs centre-forward headed over an effort, from Yago Santiago’s free-kick into the penalty area. Another good Spurs passing move resulted in Tyrell Ashcroft passing the ball to Jamie Donley inside the Blackburn penalty area. Donley then found Yago Santiago on the left side of the box, but his fine and low curling effort went just wide of Jordan Eastham’s goal. After Donley had received a forward pass from Alfie Dorrington, the Spurs forward found himself through on goal. He continued into the penalty area, before calmly curling an effort past Eastham, and into the goal, 2-0. Matthew Craig received a yellow card soon after, before Jamie Donley curled over a free-kick effort from just outside the Blackburn Rovers penalty area. A good chance came to Donley a couple of minutes later, inside the penalty area, however, his effort was well blocked by a defender. Another great Spurs passing move, this time on 70 minutes, resulted in Spurs extending their lead. After Donley received Santiago’s pass on the left flank, the Spurs forward delivered a fine cross towards Lankshear in the centre of the Blackburn penalty area, and the Spurs forward clinically side-footed the ball into the goal, 3-0.

A double substitution for Spurs saw Dante Cassanova and Max McKnight replace Matthew Craig and Rio Kyerematen respectively. The alert Luca Gunter tipped over a powerful effort on goal from Harrison Wood soon after, before Max Robson came on to replace Tyrell Ashcroft. The excellent Will Lankshear held off a defender with ease, before having an effort from the edge of the penalty area saved by Eastham. Charlie Sayers made a good and important block inside the Spurs box, to stop a good chance for Blackburn Rovers. Following another good move Spurs substitute Max McKnight slipped the ball through well to Lankshear on the right side of the Blackburn penalty area, but the centre-forward just missed the target, from his lofted effort. Will Andiyapan moved into defence after he was substitute on to replace Will Lankshear. Spurs made it 4-0 on 91 minutes, following yet another really good passing move. After Max Robson had initially won the ball, he passed the ball to Soonsup-Bell inside the Blackburn penalty area, and the Spurs forward calmly and clinically found the bottom right corner of the goal, 4-0. Jude Soonsup-Bell almost got a hat-trick just before the game came to an end, as he hit an effort over Jordan Eastham’s goal, after receiving Yago Santiago’s pass on the right side of the Blackburn Rovers penalty area.

Spurs’ next competitive game at this level is not until Tuesday the 19th of September, when they face Colchester United (away) in their first group-stage fixture of the 2023/24 EFL Trophy.

Player reviews:

• Luca Gunter: The Spurs goalkeeper made some routine saves and one good save on Saturday, and his distribution was good once again.
• Tyrell Ashcroft: This was another good defensive performance at right-back from Tyrell Ashcroft, who has played so well this season, since making his return in pre-season from a bad injury.
• Alfie Dorrington: The right sided central defender for the game, was solid in defence and he also got the assist for Jamie Donley’s goal. 
• Brooklyn Lyons-Foster: Playing on the left side of central defence, the influential Brooklyn Lyons-Foster was very good at going on skilful surging forward runs out of defence and into midfield, and once again he read the game well in defence.
• Charlie Sayers: The left-back had a good game, and he made one very good block during the second half.
• Matthew Craig: The Spurs captain was always looking to pass the ball forward and try to be inventive with the ball. He covered a lot of ground in midfield, during his time on the pitch.
• Rio Kyerematen: The central midfielder went on some excellent surging forward runs with the ball, from midfield. Rio also worked well off the ball.
• Jamie Donley: This was another very good performance from the Spurs CAM. Jamie Donley scored one goal and provided one assist, but his work off the ball was just as good.
• Jude Soonsup-Bell: This was an excellent performance on the right flank from the former Chelsea Academy player, as he scored two goals. Jude has played as a winger before, when he was with Chelsea. And he was clever and inventive on the ball, showing good skill, pace and strength with it. He took both of his goals well, and he was unlucky not to have got a hat-trick on the day.
• Will Lankshear: My man of the match, see below.
• Yago Santiago: The Spurs winger provided an assist and came very close to scoring a goal against Blackburn Rovers. Yago did well on the day.
• Dante Cassanova: The Spurs substitute played as the defensive-midfielder after entering the pitch.
• Max McKnight: On his Premier League 2 debut for Spurs, the substitute set-up one very good chance for Will Lankshear to score from.
• Max Robson: The late substitute provided an assist after going into midfield. He was very positive with the ball.
• Will Andiyapan: A very late Spurs substitute, Will Andiyapan went to right-back after being substituted on.

My man of the match – Will Lankshear. I could have named all of the Spurs players who started the match, man of the match. However, for me the Spurs centre-forward did so well off the ball once again. He pressed the Blackburn defence so, so well, and Will Lankshear’s physicality and strength to hold players off at ease, meant that the Blackburn Rovers defence had a really difficult game. Lankshear took his goal well, and on another day he could well have had a hat-trick.