FA Premier Academy League – South
    Spurs Lodge, Luxborough Lane, Chigwell
       Saturday 5th January 2008, 11am
 
          SPURS   V   CARDIFF CITY 
      (All White)     (All Black)
          4-4-2          4-4-2
 
           5(2)          0(0)
 
  David Button(C) 1 Josh Herring
 Takura Mtandari  2 Adam Matthews
    Cian Hughton  3 James Bloom
   Matthew Wells  4 Walter Jones
Troy
Archibald-Henville5 Anthony Acheampong(C)
   Steven Caulker 6 Dean Hudson
Kyle Fraser-Allen 7 James Upcott
          Sam Cox 8 Jack Carlisle 
       Alex Olsen 9 Jonathon Brown
      Ryan Mason 10 Rafeeq Kaeed
  Jonathan Obika 11 Jonathon Meades

 Andros Townsend 12 Zak Evans
       (9)46Mins.
    James Dalton 13      
      Adam Smith 14 Aaron Morris
       (5)46Mins.   (11)64Mins.
     Sol Asajile 15 Paul Gallagher
       (6)65Mins.   (4)56Mins.
      Ajet Shehu 16 Sam Wade
                    (10)54Mins.

Coach:-
  A. Inglethope     G.Twose

Scorers:-
    Obika  30, 55                  
    Olsen  39
    Mason  50, 58 pen.

Ref:- Mr. M. Downey

It was a lovely sunny morning but with a chilly wind for the first game back from the Christmas break. Because of the FA cup-tie in the afternoon only a small crowd attended with a few of the young players not involved dropping by after their training session. Inglethorpe made a number of changes to the team with Tuesday’s cup tie in mind.

Spurs lined up with Archibald-Henville and Caulker at the back with Mtandari at right back and Hughton at left back. Cox partnered Wells in centre midfield with Fraser-Allen on the right wing and Obika on the left. Mason played just behind Olsen up front.

Spurs kicked off attacking the South goal with good movement in the centre and runs down the flanks, without testing the visitors' goal. The first chance was at the other end when a Cardiff free kick was swung in from the right and Meades collided with Button at the far post. After Button made a simple save from Kaeed he failed to hold another free kick above his head which bounced thankfully wide of the far post.

Olsen ran onto a diagonal ball on the left and curled a great ball from the edge of the area which struck the far post with Herring stranded. After Kaeed drew another save from Button, Mason drove the ball in from distance which Herring put out for a corner. The corner was played to the corner of the area but ran loose before Olsen collected and held off Acheampong before playing the ball into the path of Fraser-Allen who centred for Obika to head home. He was one of three white shirts unmarked yards from goal. Spurs increased their lead when Herring rolled the ball out to Acheampong who was dispossessed by Fraser-Allen. He then gave the ball to Olsen who coolly lifted it over Herring. Hughton then finished his run with a long range effort which the keeper held at the near post and Fraser-Allen also saw his shot saved.

Inglethorpe made two changes for the second half by replacing Archibald-Henville with Smith who went to right back with Mtandari moved inside. Townsend came on for Olsen on the left flank allowing Obika to move up front. With five minutes gone Smith got down the right and fired the ball into the near post where Herring was unable to hold it and Mason slid in to put it into the net.

The Bluebirds came close to pulling a goal back from a free kick. When the ball was headed goalward Button pushed it over the bar with a good reaction save. Spurs made a break down the left when Mason collected a long ball and he was able to pull the ball back for Obika to run onto and drive it low into the net. Spurs were now in control and they played the ball around looking for openings before quick raids into the visitors defence. Smith was released by Mason down the right flank and was tripped as he went into the area. Mason sent the keeper the wrong way as he put it to his left.

After Herring made another save from Obika, Inglethorpe made his last change by taking off Caulker and sending on Asajile. Hughton moved inside and Cox dropped to left back. The keeper saved from Townsend coming in to the far post to meet Fraser-Allen’s cross before Smith fired over and then Townsend was put through but Herring blocked his effort on the edge of the area with the follow up by Fraser-Allen blocked. Carlisle did manage to hit the bar in an isolated attack but the final effort came from Obika which was saved.

This was a good result for Spurs, against a team that gave them a hard time earlier in the season. That Cardiff team was mainly on show today whereas the spurs side had only five in the starting line-up. Inglethorpe did call on Hughton, Wells and Archibald-Henville from the reserve group as over age players. This was to rest players for the cup-tie on Tuesday as was the reason for Olsen only playing 45 minutes. With another match next Saturday, expect Inglethorpe to make more team changes. That game will be away to Watford. With both Villa and Leicester winning well today, Spurs did not close the gap at the top.

Ray

Follow @spursodyssey