Tottenham U18 crashes out of FA Youth Cup after 5-2 loss to Chelsea

Tottenham Hotspur's highly-rated U18 academy team took a 2-0 aggregate lead into yesterday's FA Youth Cup semifinal second leg match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately, it didn't hold: Chelsea won the match 5-2 to defeat Spurs 5-4 on aggregate and progress to the final, denying Spurs another opportunity for silverware. Chelsea's youth will play the winner of Manchester City U18 and Leicester City U18.

Feels familiar, doesn't it?

In what was, by all indications, an absolutely bonkers match, Tottenham scored first off a Shayon Harrison strike in the 32nd minute, going up 3-0 on aggregate, and it was assumed that they would comfortably cruise to the final. And then the wheels fell off. Chelsea scored four goals in 13 minutes, and while Shayon Harrison scored again late and Spurs had several near misses to tie the match on aggregate, they were never able to equalize.

It's a heartbreaking way to go out of a tournament, especially considering how well they played at White Hart Lane in the first leg, but it doesn't lessen the impact these young players had on the tournament, nor does it diminish the promise displayed by several of them. This is a good young team.

Friggin' Chelsea.

Lineups:

Chelsea: Collins; Aina, Tomori, Clarke-Salter, Dasilva; Sammut (Scott, 78), Colkett (c), Boga (Musonda, 72); Brown (Palmer, 90+3), Abraham, Solanke. Substitutes (not used): Thompson, Grant.

Spurs: Voss; Walker-Peters, Carter-Vickers, Maghoma, Walkes; Amos, Owens (Paul, 68); Stylianides (Goddard, 77), Onomah (c), Azzaoui (Sterling, 77), Harrison. Substitutes (not used): Edwards, Glover (GK).

Goals:

Tottenham: Harrison (32, 81)

Chelsea: Solanke (41, 51), Brown (44), Colkett (54, 71-pen)