Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List
F.A.Premier U-17 Academy League
Spurs Lodge, Chigwell,
Saturday 24th November 2001, 11am.
SPURS v ARSENAL
White/Blue Red/White
3-5-2 4-4-2
2(1) 1(0)
Paul Rutherford 1 M. Niedweski
David Tyrie(C) 2 W. O'Sullivan
Marcel McKie 3 M. Probet
Lee Barnett 4 A. Kamara
Ricky Dobson 5 F. Simeck
Jonathan Black 6 J. Hoyte
Mario Noto 7 D. Shiels
Nicky Wettner 8 S. Bradley(C)
Micheal Malcolm 9 M. Gordon
Mark Yeates 10 A. Birchall
Tim Ford 11 S. O'Donnell
Owen Price 12 S. Oji
(2) 85Mins.
Michael Eade 13
David Hicks 14 B. Freeman
Gareth Jenkins 15 S. Larsson
(7) 60Mins.
Philip Ifil 16 I. Hojsted
(9) 80Mins.
Scorers - Malcolm 9, Noto 63, Birchall 68
Booked - Wettner 74(late)
This was a cool damp morning which brightened up with sunshine for the
second half causing the Gooners problems as they had to look into the sun.
There was a large crowd of over a hundred to watch a fairly good game which
was tight for the first half but opened out more during the second.
Spurs lined up with Dobson at the back flanked by Tyrie on the right and
McKie to his left. The midfield consisted of Barnett, Black and Wettner with Noto wide
on the right and Ford on the left.
The first half was fought in the middle of the pitch with a handful of
chances mainly at the Gunners' end as Spurs tried to pass through their
defence, mainly using the flanks, and they trying quick counters. Our
passing game kept them on the back foot but the final ball was often
missing. The ninth minute goal came out of nothing as a long ball over the top had
Niedweski racing out of his area to beat Malcolm to the ball. His attempted
clearance knocked out Malcolm and rebounded into the goal.
The rest of the half saw little goalmouth action with Tyrie going close with a header and
Malcolm, Yeates and Noto having good efforts with a couple from Birchall for the Gooners.
Spurs started the second half in a more purposeful mood and quickly began
to dominate. Instead of trying to go round the back, they played more
early balls through a back line that was being caught square. Malcolm and
Noto had good efforts saved by Neidweski before the Gooners made a change
bringing on one of their Scandinavians, Swedish international Sebastien
Larsson. His attacking midfield play started to redress the balance. They
won a free kick near the right hand corner and pushed everyone up looking for
the equaliser. After a scramble in the box the ball was cleared for Noto
who ran from deep inside his half to the edge of the Arsenal area before
driving the ball low past Niedweski's right hand.
The Gooners had picked up the pace with the substitution and were putting more pressure on the home
defence. They got their reward when the hard-working Birchall picked up a
loose ball on the right, came inside and hit a curler into the far corner of
the net. It was the Gooners' turn to put on the pressure and they kept it on
until the final whistle although we still had a few chances before the end
to add to our tally from balls played through a high backline with Noto
Malcolm and Yeates having the best strikes.
This was a good result although any win against the South London exiles is a
good one. Tyrie had an excellent game at the back and Noto, who has been
playing at this level for over two seasons, is improving his all round
game. Yeates showed a lot of commitment and workrate as he caused the
visitors' backline problems creating space for others. There are no Academy
matches next week with the next game being the Youth cup game at Walsall.
Will anyone be going? The next league game at Spurs Lodge will be the U-17
against Reading with the U-19 playing at Reading on the 8th December.
Ray
