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Louise Thomas
Editor
Brennan Johnson scored for a fifth consecutive match to help a youthful Tottenham secure a hard-fought 2-1 win at Ferencvaros in the Europa League.
Ange Postecoglou named four teenagers in his line-up in Budapest and it was an excellent run by 17-year-old Mikey Moore on his full debut which created Pape Sarr’s 23rd-minute opener.
It was Sarr’s second goal in the competition and after Spurs withstood some late pressure from the Hungarian champions, Johnson wrapped up the points with a left-footed finish with four minutes left.
Barnabas Varga set up a tense finish when he volleyed home in the 90th minute, but Tottenham held on to make it five wins in a row.
Postecoglou made seven changes from the weekend win at Manchester United and handed full debuts to academy graduates Moore and Will Lankshear.
An intimidating atmosphere greeted Spurs’ youthful team onto the pitch with the Ferencvaros fans making plenty of noise, but the visitors settled after Varga sent an early effort over.
The influence of Moore, who become the youngest player to play for Tottenham in the Premier League in May, started to grow with a fine dribble followed by a lovely delivery across the face of goal.
Lankshear headed over a Timo Werner cross minutes later before Sarr’s low effort was saved by Denes Dibusz after an excellent pass from Yves Bissouma.
Ferencvaros had the ball in the net with 16 minutes played when Ben Davies was caught out of position and Adama Traore headed in Eldar Civic’s cross, but it was ruled offside and eventually confirmed after a lengthy VAR check.
It lifted the home side and Postecoglou’s men had to weather a storm with Guglielmo Vicario forced into an outstanding save to deny Varga from close range, although the ball had initially gone out of play.
Moore continued to impress and after he got Civic booked, the highly-rated youngster helped create the opener for Spurs in the 23rd minute.
An incisive dribble by Moore got him past Cristian Ramirez and his attempted ball into Lankshear rolled perfectly for Sarr to rifle in from six yards.
The Tottenham players celebrated in front of the 1,200 travelling support before Sarr went close again with a right-footed effort saved following Lankshear’s smart lay-off.
It was almost 2-0 again when Pedro Porro cut inside Mohammed Abu Fani and curled a left-footed effort which hit the post and evaded Lankshear at the back post.
The second half was briefly delayed after 49 minutes due to smoke from flares let off by Ferencvaros supporters making visibility.
Vicario had already denied Matheus Saldanha by this point, but the visitors regrouped and stand-in captain Cristian Romero had a header tipped over before Lankshear volleyed off target.
Chances continued to be created by Spurs and they should have scored twice in quick succession just beyond the hour mark.
Firstly, Archie Gray drag flicked to Davies after being surrounded by Ferencvaros players and the ball was recycled to Bissouma, who played in Lankshear, but the young forward was tackled.
Two minutes later and another quick break resulted in Moore producing a delightful through ball for Werner, but he tried to round Dibusz and fired into the side-netting.
Postecoglou turned to Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Johnson with 65 minutes played.
Johnson almost wrapped up the points with 10 minutes left but fired against the crossbar after Gray played him in.
Ferencvaros scented blood and after Cebrails Makreckis fired wide, Gray had to block Abu Fani’s shot before Johnson did clinch the victory in the 86th minute.
After Dominic Solanke’s intended pass into Johnson had been cleared to Maddison, he played back to the Wales international, who cut inside and curled into the bottom corner via a deflection before he celebrated in front of the home support.
Varga set up a nervy finale when he slide home a cross by Ramirez as the clock hit 90, but Postecoglou watched his team hold on to make it two wins from two in the league phase.
