Tottenham v Elfsborg LIVE: Result as debutant Damola Ajayi hits Europa League beauty
Spurs booked their place in the last 16 of the Europa League with victory over their Swedish visitors
Tottenham Hotspur booked their berth in the Europa League's last 16 with a 3-0 victory over Swedish side Elfsborg on Thursday, with youngsters Dane Scarlett, Damola Ajayi and Mikey Moore netting their debut goals for the London club.
The victory spares Ange Postecoglou's injury-hit team the two-legged knockout round. It was not all good news for the manager as Radu Dragusin had to leave the pitch with an apparent knee injury.
Spurs thoroughly dominated the game, but struggled to break a well-organised defence down, before Scarlett finally broke the deadlock in the 70th minute when Dejan Kulusevski curled the ball into the middle of the six-yard box and the 20-year-old striker headed it into the bottom corner.
The 19-year-old Ajayi netted in the 84th minute when he played a one-two with Scarlett before slotting it into the corner. Moore, 17, celebrated his first goal in a Spurs shirt seconds before the final whistle, driving forward and then beating his man before lashing a shot into the far corner.
Tottenham 1-0 Elfsborg
72 min: Tottenham jump up to fifth in the as-it-stands table and they should now be going through to the last-16 as automatic qualifiers.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Elfsborg (Scarlett, 70 min)
Finally, the breakthrough! It’s a lovely ball by Kulusevski from the right, and Dane Scarlett arrives in the centre of the box between two defenders to guide a header home from six yards.
Tottenham 0-0 Elfsborg
68 min: Scarlett almost engineers a goal, flicking the ball into Kulusevski’s path in the box, but the Swede can’t quite control it on the run.
Tottenham 0-0 Elfsborg
64 min: Dragusin is replaced by Dane Scarlett. This will require a bit of a reshuffle, with just about every Spurs player moving position. Scarlett has gone up front and Kulusevski has moved into the No 10 position. Sarr is now playing as left-back, with Davies in at centre-half where Dragusin was.
Tottenham 0-0 Elfsborg
62 min: Dragusin receives some treatment, jogs back on to the field and then immediately waves his hand in the air to signal that he can’t continue. Elfsborg are furious that he’s effectively held up the game again.
Tottenham 0-0 Elfsborg
60 min: While Dragusin receives treatment, some more bad news: Bodo/Glimt have scored at Nice and have leapfrogged Spurs in the table. Tottenham are still seventh and just inside the top eight, but their position is precarious, and defeat here would almost certainly drop them out of the automatic places.
Tottenham 0-0 Elfsborg
58 min: This looks problematic for Spurs. Radu Dragusin is down holding his right knee, by the look of it.
Tottenham 0-0 Elfsborg
58 min: Porro makes a driving run into the box before clipping in a cross to Bergvall, but his header is too close to the goalkeeper.
Tottenham 0-0 Elfsborg
54 min: Sarr steals the ball near the corner flag and Spurs come again, but their latest attack breaks down.
A frustrating night so far, and the Tottenham fans seem edgy.
Tottenham 0-0 Elfsborg
51 min: So close! Elfsborg work their way to the edge of the Spurs box where Rapp crosses into the middle for Zeneli. His shot deflects into the path of striker Abdullai who tries an audacious overhead kick from six yards, and it flies just over the bar. That would have been some goal.
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