Premier U-18 League, Southern League 2017-18
             Belvoir Park, Aylestone, Leicester
             Saturday 19th August 2017, 11.30am

            LEICESTER CITY   v     SPURS
               (All Blue)       (White/Blue)
                 4-4-2            4-1-4-1

                  4(3)              2(1)

           Cameron Yates(C)  1  Jonathan De Bie(C)
         Simranjit Thandi    2  Matthew Lock
         Calvin Ughelumba    3  Tariq Hinds
               Rubyn Gill    4  Jamie Bowden
            George Heaven    5  Moryan Omolabi
              Lucas Husek    6  Jonathan Dinzeyi
            Kian Williams    7  Dilan Markanday
       Thakgalo Leshabela    8  Jamie Reynolds
             Tyrese Shade    9  Reo Griffiths
                Conor Tee   10  Armande Shashoua
          Thomas Fielding   11  Pheonix Patterson

              Luke Thomas   12  Brooklyn Lyons-Foster
                (2)82Mins
          Oliver Bosworth   13  Joshua Oluwayemi
                                (1)46Mins
         Ed Elewa-Ikpakwu   14  Paris Maghoma
                                (4)46Mins
           Sammie McLead    15  Jeremie Mukendi
               (9)82Mins        (10)64Mins
          Terrel Pennant    16  Maxwell Statham
               (7)75Mins

Scorers:-
          Shade 24              Griffiths 9, 90
          Tee 37
          Ughelumba 43 (pen)
          Heaven 58 

Coaches:-
          Trevor Peake          Scott Parker 

Spurs travelled to the Leicester City training ground having won their opening game 4-0 against Norwich City last week with some scintillating football. The "Foxes" had also won their opening fixture at Southampton 2-1. Last season Spurs beat their hosts 2-0 before being held to a 1-1 draw at home.

Spurs made one change from their opening game with Dinzeyi, who had trained with the first team going to the US, returning in place of Lyons-Foster who dropped to the bench. De Bie was behind Omolabi and Dinzeyi with Lock at right back and Hinds on the left. Bowden anchored the midfield with Reynolds and Shashoua ahead of him flanked by Markanday on the right and Patterson on the left in support of Griffith up front.

Spurs defended the South end in the first half and they tried to play the same sort of fast passing football as before but Leicester played deep in a solid two banks of four. They also pressed the Spurs defenders and De Bie, whilst not afraid of conceding fouls.

Shashoua had an early effort fly wide before Spurs took the lead when Reynolds played Griffiths in to score. Leicester had some tall players and always looked dangerous at set pieces as Heaven headed over from a corner. Leicester equalised when a long clearence saw Omolabi leave it for Patterson only for Tee to nip in and steal the ball to set up Shade.

Yates saved from Griffiths before the home side took the lead. Again it was an error by the Spurs defence as Dinzeyi chested down a cross from the left which allowed Tee to score. The "Foxes" raised their game and won a penalty when Ughelumba drove into the area and was caught by Bowden. The full back took the kick himself and although De Bie went the right way, he was beaten to his right for the home side to go in 3-1 up. We were treated to the unusual sight of the owner's helicopter landing during the first half to unload its occupants and then fly off.

Spurs made two changes for the start of the second half with Oluwayemi taking over from De Bie in goal and Maghoma replacing Bowden in midfield. Oluwayemi had a difficult start with the ref pulling him up for goal kicks with the ball moving and almost losing a goal when he was caught by Tee, requiring Omolabi to clear off the line. Williams had already headed wide from a cross by Fielding and Shade had fired wide. The young keeper redeemed himself saving a header from Heaven. The big defender did score when he rose unchallenged at the far post to head home Tee's free kick.

Ughelumba overpowered Lock to get down the left to fire wide for a corner. Shade had a header saved before Spurs made their last change taking off Shashoua for a second striker in Mukendi. Yates saved a deflected effort by Patterson. Hinds played in Griffiths to chip over Yates but the ball was cleared off the line by Heaven as Spurs looked for a second goal. Mukendi drew a save before McLead saw his effort saved. Spurs did get that second goal when a long ball found Patterson on the right and his cross was finished by Griffiths in the 90th minute.

The stats of the game showed that Spurs had most possession (63%) while Leicester had most shots and conceded the most fouls which sums up the game. Spurs tried to play passing football and Leicester defended well to prevent chances at the cost of free kicks. Spurs gave away two goals with poor defending which gave the home side the lead which they did not let go. Spurs' desire to attack does leave them short at the back which happens a lot in Academy football and this will be something to work on as they go through the season. Next week Spurs have a chance to get back on track with a home game against Brighton.

Ray

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