Premier U-18 League, Southern Group, 2017-18
       Hotspur Way, Whitewebbs Lane, Enfield
         Saturday 25th August 2018, 11am

              SPURS     v     CHELSEA
          (White/Blue)       (All Blue)
             4-1-4-1          4-2-3-1

               2(1)             0(0)

      Joshua Oluwayemi  1  Karlo Ziger
        Maximus Tainio  2  James Clark
          Harvey White  3  Jack Wakely
          Jamie Bowden  4  Pierre Ekwah
       Malachi Walcott  5  Clinton Mola(C)
            Luis Binks  6  Jon Russell
       Dilan Markanday  7  Henry Lawrence
     Armando Shashoua(C)8  Marcel Lewis
       J'Neill Bennett  9  George Nunn
         Paris Maghoma 10  Thierno Ballo
     Phoenix Patterson 11  Armando Broja

 Brooklyn Lyons-Foster 12  Dynel Simeu
             (2)75Mins
     Kacper Kurylowicz 13  Jake Askew
       Jubril Okendina 14  Jordan Aina
       Jeremie Mukendi 15  Lewis Bate
                           (6)73Mins
          Enock Asante 16  Dion Rankine
            (11)85Mins     (11)70Mins

Scorers:-
         Maghoma 8
         Shashoua 73

Booked:-
   Lyons-Foster 77(UGC)    Lewis 77(UGC)

Coach:-
            Matty Wells    Jon Harley

It was a cool morning with passing clouds to keep the sun peeking through over Enfield. The visitors had been held to a draw by Leicester last week while Spurs had a 5-1 victory at Swansea. Spurs nearly did the double over Chelsea last season when the Blues needed two very late goals to pinch a point with a 4-4 draw here at Hotspur Way, while Spurs won 3-0 at Cobham where some of today's Chelsea team played.

Spurs lined up with Oluwayemi in goal behind Walcott and Binks with Tainio at right back and White on the left. It has to be said that that was a nominal position for the midfielder as like Jamie Reynolds before him Harvey operated more in midfield than at full back. Bowden anchored the midfield with Shashoua and Maghoma ahead of him. They were flanked by Markanday on the right and Patterson on the left. With the absence of Parrott (playing in the U-23s last night) Bennett again led the line.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North end with good approach play while Chelsea pushed up on the inexperienced back line. Nunn headed over a cross by Clark before Bennett (helping out his defence) intercepted a Chelsea pass and carried the ball over 60 yards into the opposition half before playing in Patterson to fire wide. Maghoma exchanged passes with Bennett to go clear through the middle and to round Ziger to open the scoring.

The visitors' defence was having problems tackling the quick moving Spurs attack with Shashoua playing in Patterson who was stopped by the keeper coming out quickly to save at his feet. Markanday played in Maghoma to draw a save before the midfielder linked up with Bennett on the left for the striker to play the ball inside to Bowden who laid it off the Shashoua to strike and draw a save. Lawrence won a corner from which Russell fired over when it was not cleared. A corner routine by Spurs saw Binks head wide from White's cross.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw positional changes by the visitors as Lewis moved to the left. A break down the right saw the ball come to Lewis who beat Oluwayemi with a low effort but Walcott slid across to clear off the line. Lewis began to get the better of Tainio and played in Nunn for a chance that was saved and allowed the left back Mola to get forward and draw a save from Oluwayemi.

Good work by Markanday played in Patterson to advance and score but the assistant flagged for offside. This was the same assistant who had made three wrong calls in the first half (just saying). Lewis fired wide before getting his next effort on target for Oluwayemi to save. Bennett was now operating on the left with Patterson inside him, and he ran down the line producing a low cross that Patterson turned across the goalmouth for Shashoua to score at the far post.

Lyons-Foster replaced Tainio to close down Lewis and scuffled with the Chelsea player over the ball following a free kick awarded to Chelsea. Both players were booked for ungentlemanly conduct. Rankine fired wide and Ekwah won a corner as the opposition looked for a goal. Spurs won a free kick on the edge of the Chelsea area when Bate blocked Markanday's run into the area. White took the kick hitting it low to the left but Ziger saved.

Asante replaced Patterson to lead the line as Spurs looked to see out the game. Shashoua played in Maghoma to draw a save before Lyons-Foster made a timely tackle on Ballo as he was about to score. There was no time for the resulting corner as the referee blew for time.

This was a good win for Spurs who continued to attack at pace throughout the game. Walcott and Binks worked well together once they settled from a nervy start. The pace and trickery of Shashoua, Patterson and Markanday in support of Bennett had the Chelsea defence on the back foot. This made it three wins out of three for Spurs who join Arsenal and West Ham at the top of the Southern League. Spurs are second on goal difference. Next week Spurs travel to Southampton who drew at Fulham 2-2 today.

Ray

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