Crewe Alexandra's Under-18's opened the new season with heartbreak on Saturday, as Tottenham Hotspur nicked a win with the last kick of the game.
Steve Holland's young side seemed on the way to a comfortable victory in the first half, as they dominated the game and raced into a 2-0 interval lead, but a spirited second half fight back from the Premiership side saw them come back from the dead and take victory deep into stoppage time.
The Alex fielded trialist Matthew Wood in midfield, after the Nuneaton Borough had impressed after training with the club during the summer, whilst fellow trialist, Altrincham youngster Craig Ellison operated in goal.
The Railwaymen began in fine fashion with Wood's clever ball finding Amari Morgan-Smith, who beat his defender and sidefooted an effort wide of goalkeeper Richard Stroud but also just past the far post.
Five minute later however, the Alex had the lead thanks to some fantastic work from striker Nick Farqurharson. The powerful forward, who missed nearly all of last season with a back injury capitalised after a long ball forward was poorly dealt with by Spurs stopper Stroud.
He came outside his box to attempt to clear the ball, only to slice his attempted punt straight up in the air. As the ball looped back into his penalty area he seemed favourite to catch it, but Farquharson leapt into the air to beat the Spurs youngster and send a header thumping into the back of the empty net.
Farqurharson caused more problems minutes later as he raced down the right flank and pulled a square ball into the path of Morgan-Smith, but his effort was easily saved.
On the half hour Crewe made it 2-0 with another header, this time from a set play. First Year Scholar Ashley Westwood, operating at right back, hit a deep free kick into the penalty area and centre-back Thomas Lapping rose highest to head past Stroud and double the lead.
Spurs almost fell further behind before the break when Farquharson's shot was saved by Stroud's feet following good play from Under-18 debutante Chris Clements, but Spurs reached the break without further damage.
Despite dominating the first half, Crewe were immediately on the back foot after the turnaround, and within 15 minutes as the visitors halved their deficit.
A good midfield break from David Hutton did the damage as he won possession from Clements before finding Terry Dixon, and the Spurs forward did the rest with a cool finish past Ellison.
Tottenham then began to wrestle control of the game and although the Railwaymen survived from the next 25 minutes, the scores were level with ten minutes remaining.
Another good run by Dixon had the Alex defence on the back foot and when Junior Brown stuck out a leg to challenge, the referee immediately awarded a penalty.
Stuart Lewis stepped up to take the spot kick, and although Ellison did superbly to dive to his right and save his initial effort, the Spurs midfielder was quick to snap up the rebound and make it 2-2.
With a minute to go Farqurharson was unlucky not grab a win for the Alex as his effort from substitute AJ Leitch-Smith's flick on was deflected narrowly wide, but it was Tottenham who grabbed all the points deep into stoppage time.
Hutton was again the creator, with a reverse pass through the Alex defence, and although there was a hint of offside when Lewis latched onto the ball, the flag stayed down and he fired in his second of the game to grab the victory.
Crewe will be looking to bounce back from this opening day set back when they travel to West Ham United in the FA Premier Academy League next weekend.
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Crewe: Craig Ellison, Ashley Westwood, Nathaniel Kerr, Thomas Lappin, Junior Brown, James Bailey; Matthew Wood (sub Dexter Ravenhill 90), Chris Clements; Byron Moore (sub Nathan Bancroft 71), Nick Farqurharson, Amari Morgan-Smith (sub AJ Leitch-Smith 63)
Subs (Not Used): Russell Courtney, Marcus Calvert
Spurs: Richard Stroud, Chris Riley, Cian Houghton, Stuart Lewis, Alex Smith, Jake Livermore, Jamie Davis (sub Takura Miandari 40), David Hutton (sub Daniel Hutchings 63), Kyle Fraser-Allen, Terry Dixon, Jacques Mahoma
Subs (Not Used): Greg Lake, Andros Townsend, James Dalton
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Highlights of this game will be shown next week Exclusively on
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