Premier U-18 Group 2 Play-offs 2015-16
               Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
             Saturday 27th February 2016, 12 noon

                   SPURS     v     W.B.A.
                (White/Blue)    (Red/Black)
                  4-2-3-1         4-2-3-1

                    4(1)            3(1)

           Thomas McDermott  1  Matthew Hall
         Nicholas Tsaroulla  2  Pannagiotis Artymatas
                Jaden Brown  3  Callum Pritcuatt
               George Marsh  4  Rahis Nabi
                 Joy Mukena  5  Dara O'Shea
        Christian Maghoma(C) 6  Sameron Dool
             Marcus Edwards  7  Kane Wilson
                 Jack Roles  8  James Smith
           Kazaiah Sterling  9  Evan Pierce
               Dylan Duncan 10  Chay Scrivens
            Samuel Shashoua 11  Max Melbourne

              Shilow Tracey 12  Jordan Piggott
                  (9)77Mins     (?)65Mins.
             Brandon Austin 13  Brad House
       Tashan Oakley-Boothe 14  Marcus Forss
                  (4)63Mins     (9)46Mins. 
                  Nya Kirby 15  Daniel Meridith
                 (10)63Mins
               Aramide Oteh 16  Nick Philips

Scorers:-
             Roles 38           O'Shea 45+2
             Sterling 49        Forss 58,
             Edwards 80         Scrivens 88
             Tracey 85

Booked:-
                                Nabi 62(Foul)

Coach:-
             K. McKenna         A. Danks

Referee:– M. Smith

It was a freezing cold morning for the first game in the play-offs which saw West Bromwich Albion visiting Hotspur Way. The Midlanders, who used to be in the Southern group, finished eighth in the other group this season, the same position as Spurs finished in their group.

Spurs lined up with McDermott in goal behind Maghoma and Mukena with Tsaroulla at right back and Brown on the left. Marsh anchored the midfield with Roles alongside hime. In front of them was Duncan, flanked by Edwards on the right and Shashoua on the left behind Sterling up front. Spurs had a young bench including Tracey.

Spurs defended the South end but were quickly on the front foot pressing the visitors. Edwards crossed the ball to Shashoua to set up Duncan for a chance that was saved by Hall easily. Shashoua set up Marsh for a shot from the edge of the area that was also comfortable for Hall. The "Baggies"' keeper also saved a deflected shot from Sterling, and when Duncan played in Shashoua saved at the expense of a corner.

Tsaroulla crossed for Sterling to head wide before Shashoua hit a free kick over after Edwards was pulled back. Spurs finally opened the scoring when the ball was worked across the area from the right for Roles to drive into the bottom right corner. Edwards curled wide before the visitors scored in added time at the end of the half. O'Shea found himself in the Spurs half and hit a shot from about 30 yards which caught out McDermott to allow the visitors to go in level.

West Brom made one change for the second half replacing their striker with Forss who quickly showed what his side had been missing in the first half. The visitors tried to catch Spurs cold when they won the ball in the Spurs half and Wilson struck the near post having been played in by Forss. A mistake by Maghoma let in Forss who was stopped by McDermott.

Spurs were in front again from a corner by Edwards which found Sterling at the back post for a simple header. Roles fired over and Duncan shot wide from an Edwards lay-off before Hall saved well from Edwards' free kick which was curled round the outside of the wall. The visitors were level again when a free kick by Nabi was deflected to Forss on the left who had time to control and score.

Tsaroulla fired over before the referee booked Nabi for a foul which gave Spurs the time to make a double substitution. Oakley-Boothe replaced Marsh who had been spoken to by the referee on more than one occasion and Kirby took over from Duncan. Edwards played in Shashoua on the right and his effort was cleared off the line. Shashoua fired wide and Kirby shot over before Roles put a free kick over the bar.

Spurs last change saw Tracey come on for Sterling. Spurs went in front again when the ball was crossed from the left and came to Tsaroulla on the right. Under challenge the ball fell to Edwards o the edge of the area and the little midfielder made room for himself to fire into the near post for 3-2.

From a corner, Roles had his effort blocked with the rebound falling for Maghoma but his chance was also blocked. Forss got away winning a corner from a save by McDermott. Edwards continued to prove troublesome coming inside to hit the crossbar. Tracey got the better of O'Shea to fire in Spurs' fourth with five minutes to go. West Brom pushed for another goal which came following a goalmouth scramble as Spurs failed to clear their lines.

With Spurs still trying to go forward the visitors pushed for the equaliser with Scrivens effort deflected for a corner that saw O'Shea head over and McDermott saving from Forss at his near post before the final whistle.

Spurs started well dominating the play but took a while to break down a strong defence before being pulled back by a goal out of the blue which was the visitors' first effort on target. The game was more open in the second half which saw Spurs open up a lead which they managed to hold despite pressure from the "Baggies" towards the end when they should have seen out the game. Next week's opponents will be Leicester City who top the group after beating Wolves 7-2 while Arsenal drew 3-3 with Villa in the other game.

Ray

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