Mehmet on sticking to our beliefs in derby draw

It was our never-say-die attitude and willingness to stick to our principles that saw us earn a fully deserved point in the 90th minute of Friday’s 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur under-21s.

Jude Soonsup-Bell gave our north London rivals the lead late in the first half, but we put the visitors under extreme pressure in the second 45 and got our just rewards when Ethan Nwaneri netted a late equaliser.

“We were really proud of our players in there and just praised them for not stopping the bravery we played with, especially in the second half,” Mehmet Ali said after the game.

“I thought we really took the game to our opponents and felt we should’ve got more from the game to be honest, but in football you’re sometimes going to win, lose or draw. It was more the principles we apply and how we kept sticking to our playing style and going for our opponents. That’s what made me pleased.”

On the subject of the north London derby, Mehmet and his players thrived off of the opportunity to rise to the occasion.

“You could feel it from the crowd,” he said. “Even when we were warming up they got booed when they came out. I love that! Anytime you’re playing in front of a crowd it definitely gives you that extra little boost, so a lot of thanks to all our fans who came out tonight. They were excellent, very vocal and really pushed the team through and you really felt that in the second half.

“If you’re going to have careers and play for our first team and remain in this industry you’ve got to find a way of being mature and sticking to what we believe in and they did that really well.”

We highlighted Myles Lewis-Skelly’s second-half performance to Mehmet as our number six was making things happen in the second half, winning the ball high to prevent Spurs playing out of our press and picking out dangerous passes into the 18-yard box, but Mehmet thinks Myles has even more to give.

“He’s got more in him,” he said. “I thought in the first half he played against a very good number 10 and found it difficult. He’s got a lot of work to do with his football running and power but he’s working on it and the way he kept going even when he was tired, broke up play in the second half and some of his passes in behind the opposition were very pleasing to see, especially at such a young age. He will pick up loads from that game but has loads to do.”