Ceadach O’Neill cracked a long-range effort against the crossbar as Arsenal went close to a reply, but we kept them largely at bay for the remainder of the first half before producing an excellent second-half display to take the game away from them. Indeed, we started with purpose after the break and after Adewole fired over with a good chance after more good work on the right from Boast, Feeney doubled his tally with a right-footed shot from 18 yards out in the 48th minute to further stretch our advantage.
Adewole’s low shot was kept out by Ranson and substitute Armend Muslika whistled a low drive beyond the far post after a fine diagonal pass from Tyler Tingey as we dominated proceedings, although a sloppy mistake in defence allowed Nwaneri an opening to pull one back for the Gunners with six minutes remaining. We got straight back on the front foot, though, and after dealing with an Arsenal corner, Adewole ran clean through on goal from inside our own half to complete a resounding win. It could have been even more in truth, Elliott-Parris with two chances in stoppage time that went begging, but we’d done more than enough as our unbeaten run at this level extended into a sixth game.
‘We arguably should have scored more’
Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr, who took charge of his first game in the reverse fixture at Hotspur Way back in November, was particularly pleased with how we performed after half-time: “I thought the second-half performance was strong and we looked like the team that was going to create more opportunities to score,” he reflected. “In previous weeks, we’ve probably been a bit critical around not having that threat in the final third, whereas if you look at the second half today, we had loads of opportunities and arguably should have scored a few more. Overall, it’s a pleasing performance.”
On tasting north London derby victory, he added: “You sensed in the build-up to the game how much emphasis the players put on the derby, especially as they’ve grown up playing against this group of Arsenal players for years. Some of them know each other – Tyler Tingey was telling me he went to school with one of their players – so they’ve been around each other for a long time, meaning there’s that added factor that adds even more spice to the game. I think that’s important because it prepares them for big games in future.”