FA Youth Cup semi-final report: Tottenham 1 Chelsea 2

Monday night’s FA Cup draw sent Tottenham and Chelsea on a collision course as they eye a heavyweight semi-final showdown at Wembley next month.

And, less than 24 hours after they were paired together, the clubs’ Under-18s went head to head in the junior version of the competition, meeting in the last four of the FA Youth Cup.

Spurs had home advantage for this evening’s first leg at White Hart Lane but were nonetheless underdogs against a Chelsea outfit who have been dominating domestically and abroad in recent times.

The Blues are aiming to win this tournament for the fourth year in a row, having also won the UEFA Youth League in each of the past two seasons – and they left north London with a 2-1 lead ahead of Saturday’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.

But Spurs will certainly take that result, having been outplayed for the vast majority of the match, found themselves deservedly 2-0 down at half-time and survived a series of near misses after that.

It took a host of stops from goalkeeper Brandon Austin to keep them in the game – and there was an air of incredulity along with the celebrations when Kazaiah Sterling halved the deficit in the 88^th minute.

Even then Chelsea roused themselves and won a late penalty, only for Luke McCormick to hit the post.

The Blues will surely reflect that the tie should already be over – but hope remains for John McDermott’s Spurs side.

Chelsea captain Mason Mount fired an early warning shot, curling a sixth-minute free kick against the post, and his team quickly started to dominate possession.

While Spurs’ left midfielder Keanan Bennetts showed some of his pace and skill, embarking on a couple of enterprising runs, they began too far from the visitors’ goal to really trouble his opponents.

Tottenham gradually found it harder and harder to keep the ball and they seemed to lose confidence, rushing or misplacing passes and compounding their difficulties.

The pressure began to mount and one intercepted ball inside Spurs’ own half allowed the lively Callum Hudson-Odoi to turn and get a shot off – which was deflected just wide – while Tariq Uwakwe fired over the bar and Ike Ugbo burst through the right channel but missed the target.

There was brief encouragement at the other end on the half-hour mark as Samuel Shashoua found Sterling, who attacked the box and saw his shot well blocked. However, Chelsea’s opener arrived a few minutes later.

Again, Spurs were guilty of losing the ball deep inside their own half, resulting in a header from Dujon Sterling and then a moment of pinball in the box.

While the hosts initially survived after some resilient last-ditch defending, they could not stop the ensuing corner as Reece James met Uwakwe’s corner with a looping header that dropped over Austin.

Chelsea went on to double their lead four minutes later, and it was a well-worked goal as right midfielder Sterling met a deep delivery with a cushioned volleyed cross back into the middle, where Ike Ugbo headed home.

The visitors merited their half-time lead and, although Spurs swapped Shashoua for Dylan Duncan at the interval in a bid to gain a foothold in the game, the Blue tide kept coming and Austin became increasingly busy.

Spurs’ goalkeeper was forced into action to repel curling efforts from Mount and Hudson-Odoi – and then, when Ugbo attempted to convert a cross at point-blank range, the hosts’ custodian kept the ball out with his face.

There were no ill-effects – Austin was soon diving down to palm away James’ sweetly-struck volley and then tip Ugbo and George McEachran’s shots out of his bottom corner.

But it seemed his heroics were going to be in vain and were only prolonging the inevitable. A comeback never looked plausible.

Yet, as the final minutes ticked away, Duncan sent a flicked header narrowly wide – and in the 88^th minute Sterling finally got free inside the box and slotted clinically into the bottom right corner.

That spurred Chelsea into action, and they were promptly awarded a penalty as Harvey Sinclair went down after a tangle of legs with Tashan Oakley-Boothe.

Tempers flared as an altercation between two men became a scuffle involving virtually all of the outfield players – and the delay possibly helped Tottenham.

Chelsea substitute McCormick had to wait for a while before eventually stepping up to the spot, and in the end he struck the left-hand post.

Spurs had escaped again, and they even threatened an equaliser at the death, as Jonathan Dinzeyi narrowly failed to get his head to a Bennetts free kick.

Tottenham’s youngsters may be behind ahead of their trip to Stamford Bridge, and the odds remain against them – but they live to fight another day.

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