Tottenham U-21 won the Premier League 2 for the first time in history.

Tottenham Under-21s capped off a great 2023/24 season by winning the Premier League 2 play-off final 3-1 over Sunderland at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

Wayne Burnett’s side won the competition for the first time after finishing first in the league phase in April. Goals either side of half-time from Premier League 2 Player of the Season Will Lankshear, followed by a stoppage time strike from captain George Abbott, secured the victory.

Sunderland did score a goal in the final minutes of the game, with Timur Tuterov slamming in from close range, but it made little difference to the outcome, as our youthful charges held on to win the title.

At the final whistle, skipper Abbott had the honor of raising the trophy in front of thousands of fans in N17, and we were also given with a plaque to recognize our success of placing first in the league portion of the competition.

Having faced severe tests throughout our trip to the final, our battle with the Wearsiders was no exception, as the lads from the north east had tremendous intensity from the start. In the first 30 minutes, the visitors created five decent openings, one of which required a great reflex save from Luca Gunter as Tommy Watson attempted to hammer the ball in from range.

Despite their strong performance, we took the lead, and it came from a familiar source for us this season, as Lankshear – who had 30 goals in all competitions heading into the final – was given one of his easiest finishes of the season, with Abbott’s clever cut-back evading everyone but the prolific forward for him to tuck home.

Tottenham U-21 vs Sunderland | Premier League 2

Sunderland came back into the game and could, and probably should, have leveled just before the break when Harrison Jones struck fiercely from the edge of the area, but this time the post saved us as the midfielder’s effort rebounded before being sent wide by Trey Ogunsuyi. In stoppage time, Jude Soonsup-Bell had an excellent chance to double our lead, but his header missed the left upright.

Looking for a way back into the game, the Black Cats continued to look powerful as we entered the second half, with Watson standing out in particular, hitting the post from an acute angle before dragging wide seconds later.

While the visitors were causing us problems, they lacked that killer instinct in front of goal, which Lankshear has demonstrated in abundance this season and demonstrated once more on the hour mark when he was in the right place at the right time to tuck home a cut-back – this time from Soonsup-Bell – to put us in complete control.

The Mackems rallied again, but Gunter was our saviour between the sticks once more, making two more crucial saves to preserve our lead – first getting low to somehow parry Watson’s swirling drive, before being in the right place to stop a deflected free-kick from sneaking in at his near post.

Buoyed by Gunter’s heroics, we went on to score a third in injury time to seal the match, with Abbott slamming home a well-deserved goal after Adam Richardson stopped substitute Damola Ajayi superbly. Sunderland finally broke our determination with a couple of seconds left, when Tuterov banged in from close range, but it was too little, too late for the visitors as we claimed victory and lifted the trophy in front of our fans.