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Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
Premier U-21 League 2012-3
Semi-Final
White Hart Lane,
Tottenham, N17
Monday 13th May 2013, 7pm
SPURS v EVERTON
(All White) (All Blue)
4-3-3 4-5-1
3(1) 2(1)
Jordan Archer 1 Jan Mucha
Ryan Fredericks 2 John Stokes
Ezekiel Fryers 3 Luke Garbutt
Milos Veljkovic 4 John Lundstram
Kevin Stewart 5 Tyias Browning
Grant Hall(C) 6 Shane Duffy(C)
Alex Pritchard 7 Matthew Kennedy
Nabil Bentaleb 8 Ross Barkley
Jonathan Obika 9 Conor McAleny
Thomas Carroll 10 Chris Long
Cristian Ceballos 11 Conor Grant
Jack Barthram 12 Mason Springthorpe
(2)55Mins.
Jonathan Miles 13
Jake Nicholson 14 Courtney Duffus
(7)17Mins.
Giancarlo Gallifuoco 15 George Green
(8)88Mins.
Kenneth McEvoy 16 Tom Molyneux
(7)75Mins (11)88Mins.
17 Matthew Pennington
Scorers:-
Pritchard 11 McAleny 45+2
Obika 46, 88 Long 48
Coach:-
T. Sherwood A. Stubbs
Attendance:– 887
Referee:– W. Porter
Assistants:- A. Da Costa & P. Howard
Fourth Official:– S. Ross
The Under 21s can score late winners too!
The overcast skies cleared for the start of this first semi-final of the new U-21 league. Spurs qualified top of the Elite group while Everton topped Group 1 and beat Newcastle on penalties in a play-off for the final place in the semis. Everton came into this game on an unbeaten run of sixteen games finishing the second phase unbeaten. Both sides had players with first team experience with players returning from loan clubs.There was good vocal support from the 1882 group again.
Spurs lined up with Archer in goal behind Hall and Stewart with Fredericks at right back and Fryers on the left. Veljkovic anchored the midfield with Bentaleb and Carroll alongside him. Obika returned to lead the line with Pritchard and Ceballos.
Spurs defended the Paxton Road End in the first half but were soon on the attack with quick passing down the flanks and long balls from Carroll and Veljkovic to the wings and over the top.
Obika drew the first save having been played through by Bentaleb. Fredericks got down the right and his cross/shot into the box had to be saved by Mucha. A long diagonal ball from Veljkovic beat Stokes for Pritchard to collect and cut inside before firing into the far side of the goal to give the home side an early lead.
Kennedy set up McAleny for a shot from the left that Archer pushed away. Spurs countered quickly and Ceballos fired wide. Kennedy had to be replaced by Duffus who played up front with McAleny moving wide. Pritchard fired wide from a free kick before Obika saw his effort saved. Pritchard fed Ceballos for a chance that he hit over the bar.
Carroll took a corner from the right side to the far post where Pritchard turned it back into the box and Fryers tried an overhead kick which was saved by Mucha. Veljkovic put in a deep cross to Obika at the far post for the striker to head back for Ceballos to hit over. The Toffees won a free kick just outside the area which was taken by Barkley who fired it wide.
Obika hit a snap shot over before being played through by Carroll turning the ball wide, Duffy headed over from a free kick as the play switched to the other end. The visitors had hardly been in the game but found an equaliser when Barkley played the ball out to Stokes to cross low and hard. McAleny drove the ball home at the far post with the last kick of the half.
There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Everton push forward. They left themselves light at the back and a long ball found Obika in the left channel. The striker flicked on the ball for Pritchard only for Stokes to intercept. Before the Everton defender could get the ball under control Obika won it back and drove into the area to score with a low drive.
The visitors responded with Grant firing wide before they got a second equaliser when Long lifted the ball over his shoulder at the far post and it looped over Archer into the net.
Fredericks came off and before Spurs could get Barthram on Everton tried to exploit the space on the left. Garbutt got down the left and fired in a shot that Ceballos deflected for a corner. The game opened up with both sides pushing players forward in search of the winning goal. Archer saved from Duffy at a corner and also from McAleny while Obika had a chance at the other end in a race for the ball with Browning and Mucha. He did drew a save when he met a free kick from Carroll.
Long met a long ball at the far post but could only hit the post with his effort. Spurs replaced Pritchard with McEvoy on the right and he was quickly into the action when he got to the line and crossed for Obika to attack in the box and win a corner. Garbutt crossed for McAleny to head wide.
Archer saved from Long at the expense of a corner and Duffy got forward to drive wide. McEvoy got down the right and crossed for Obika to head wide at the far post. With two minutes of normal time remaining, Ceballos crossed from the left and Obika got in to score. He lost his footing under pressure from Duffy and as he went down he got his head to the ball.
Before the restart Both sides made a change. Spurs replaced Bentaleb with Gallifuoco and Everton sent on Molyneux for Grant. As the game went into added time, Stokes put in a cross that Long met at the near post with Archer saving well to turn his shot away.
Spurs were quick out of the blocks and dominated the first half. Everton came more into the game in the second half when they pushed a second player up changing to 4-4-2. The game became more end to end.
Spurs now await the result of tuesday game at Old Trafford between United and Liverpool. The winners will host the final on Monday evening. Spurs have beaten Liverpool twice in the group phase and have two wins and two defeats against United – both away.
Ray
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