Premier U-18 League
              Southern Group 2013-4
           Hogwood Park, Finchampstead
         Saturday 1st March 2014, 12 noon

            READING     v     SPURS
          (Blue/White)     (White/Blue)
             4-3-3            4-3-3

              3(0)             2(2)

            Lewis Ward  1  Harry Voss
         Tennai Watson  2  Kyle Walker-Peters
            Nana Owuso  3  Luke Amos
     Conor Shaughnessy  4  Filip Lesniak(C)
         Robert Dickie  5  Cameron Carter-Vickers
       Dominic Hyam(C)  6  Anton Walkes
            Noor Husin  7  Emmanuel Sonupe
     Jammi Fridjonsson  8  Joseph Pritchard
        Harry Cardwell  9  Daniel Akindayini
            Liam Kelly 10  Shayon Harrison
          Hammad Lawal 11  Anthony Georgiou

       George McLennan 12  Kane Vincent-Young
                           (3)71Mins
           George Legg 13  Liam Priestley
         Bogdan Vastuk 14  Cy Goddard
             (9)64Mins     (11)71Mins
         Jake Sheppard 15  Nathan Oduwa
                           (7)60Mins
         Amadu Waritay 16 

Scorers:-  
        Shaughnessy 55     Akindayini 3
        Hyam 63            Walkes 43
        Lawal 70

Coaches:- 
        E. Dolan           J. McDermott 

Referee:– C. Wicks

It was a sunny morning for the trip to Reading. The ground close to the pitch was still water-logged which was the cause of the fixture switch when Spurs won 2-0 at Hotspur Way. The Reading training ground has improved since my last visit. They have installed floodlights, and seats(for the U-21games). We also had for the first time team-sheets. Spurs were without regular midfielders Winks, Miller and Onomah as the first two played at Southampton and Onomah was with England in Portugal.

Spurs lined up with Voss in goal behind Carter-Vickers and Walkes with Walker-Peters at right back and Amos on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield trio with Pritchard and Harrison while Akindayini led the line with Sonupe on the right and Georgiou on the left. Having appeared as a substitute the previous evening, Oduwa was on the bench.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the south end and settled quicker than the home side taking an early lead. Good work by Walker-Peters on the right saw him wriggle his way into the area and play in Akindayini to score.

Pritchard saw his effort take a deflection to go wide for a corner. Owuso fired wide when a corner was played back to him. Amos had a tough battle with Husin on the left side, in which he did well, got down the left and whipped a low cross across the six yard box. Fridjonsson fired wide before Pritchard drew a save from Ward.

Reading had a chance when Voss dropped a high free kick and Dickie hit it over the bar. A corner was deflected to Cardwell but Voss saved his effort. Spurs increased their lead when Walker-Peters again got down the right and pulled the ball back for Walkes to volley high into the net. Walker-Peters set up Sonupe for a chance that was over the bar in the last minute of the half.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw the home side putting more pressure on Spurs. Kelly hit a free kick over the bar in the opening minute. Harrison played a through ball for Akindayini to run onto and shoot. The keeper saved the shot and Sonupe's follow up was blocked . Sonupe had an effort from outside the area that Ward saved at the expense of a corner.

A poor corner by Georgiou came back to him, and he came inside to drive a shot onto the near post via a deflection with the ball running along the goal line before being cleared. Sonupe had another effort saved by Ward from a pass by Akindayini.

Reading pulled a goal back from a corner. Hyam headed the ball down onto the right post and Shaughnessy reacted quickest to knock it in. Sonupe fired wide before he was replaced by Oduwa. Cardwell got through but Voss saved for a corner. Hyam rose to head the ball inside the left post but Walker-Peters cleared it off the line only for the big defender to fire home the rebound for the Reading equaliser.

Spurs began to push forward and the "Royals", bouyed by their recovery, sought to counter when they could. Georgiou fired wide before a quick break saw Lawal through one on one with Voss. The winger kept his nerve to score as the keeper came out to complete the home side's turnaround.

Spurs made a double substitution, replacing Amos at left back with Vincent-Young, and taking off Georgiou for Goddard. With Spurs committed to going forward, Reading were able to pick them off and launch counter attacks. Voss saved from Fridjonsson while Kelly fired wide. Fridjonsson hit the post and Voss saved from Kelly. Another free kick saw Voss save from Dickie as the game tailed off to the final whistle.

Spurs missed a chance to go above West Ham at the top of the table with this game of two halves. Reading got back into the game from corner kicks, where their big defenders were able to out-jump the Spurs defence. Lack of experience led to Spurs not controlling the game when in front and when chasing it having fallen behind. Once ahead Reading were putting their bodies on the line to block shots.

While West Ham did not play today, Fulham had a 2-0 victory at Norwich to go above them on goal difference. Spurs are now three points behind the two with a game in hand. Spurs next game is away to Aston Villa on the 15th.

Ray

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