Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.

            Premier Academy League
	     Spurs Lodge, Chigwell
      Saturday 14th September 2002, 11am 

             SPURS   v   CHELSEA
	 (White/Blue)   (All blue)
	     4-4-2        3-5-2

	      2(1)         0(0)

     Paul Rutherford  1  Glenn Wizik
        Daniel Perry  2  Dean Smith
        Marcel McKie  3  Ben Hudell
         Dean Marney  4  Steven Watt
      Ronnie Henry(C) 5  Joel Kitamirike(C)
        Ricky Dobson  6  Mauro Da Silva
         Mark Yeates  7  Danny Woodards
      Jonathan Black  8  Danny Jeffreys
       Jamie Slabber  9  Danny Hollands
         Lee Barnard 10  Mbark Moussoufa
       Nicky Wettner 11  Bill Sentance

          Mario Noto 12  Ian Pulman
        Robert Burch 13  Danny Carr
            Tim Ford 14  Anthony Grant
			 (11)76Mins
         Lee Barnett 15  Adrian Pettigrew
                     16  Kevin McKinlay
			 (9)76Mins

Scorers - Slabber 17, Marney 73,

Booked - Marney(5) Late, Wettner(26) behind, McKie(87) Late, Barnard(90) (retaliation?)

On an overcast gusty morning with just a group of around 30 people gathered at the pitch for the senior youth team game, because the first team squad was at the lodge, a lot of staff drifted over to see a very one sided game. Colin Calderwood was keeping an eye on the players who have played in his reserve team. Fellow youth team players Snee, Kelly and Sutton as well as Teddy and Gus were also spotted.

Pat Holland's side lined up with Dobson alongside Henry at the back with Perry on the right and McKie on the left. A midfield of Marney and Black in the centre were flanked by Yeates on the right and Wettner on the left, supporting Barnard and Slabber up front. The Chelsea team had a solid back three with Da Silva, a very impressive new signing in the middle and Watt on the left who kept Slabber and Barnard fairly quiet.

Spurs kicked off attacking the left-hand goal pushing everybody up which almost cost a goal as a long punt upfield found a "Blues" player in acres of space beating Rutherford outside the box but his centre was not converted.

After this scare Spurs settled down and took control of the game. The back line - well marshalled by Henry - hardly put a foot wrong and the four in midfield outplayed the visitors' five with both Wettner and Yeates getting past the wing-backs repeatedly. They were much stronger in the challenge than the visitors with Marney getting a caution early on for a late tackle and both physios had to come on a few times during the game.

Wettner and Yeates were creating chances down the flanks for Slabber, Barnard and Marney with Henry missing a couple of chances from corners. One was a bad header when free at the far post. We finally found the net in the 17th minute when Yeates' run and shot was not held by Wizik and Slabber tucked the ball home.

The Chelsea keeper was kept busy with shots from Slabber, Wettner, and Yeates as well as Marney before the half-time whistle. The only break he had was when Moussoufa made room for himself on the right of the area but then wasted the chance. A quick clearance from a corner caught the defence upfield which earned Wettner a booking as he prevented the striker getting away. The best move of the half came from Dean Marney when he won the ball in the centre circle, and then beat three men before his 20 yard drive was turned round the post by Wizik.

The second half started with Chelsea attacking more and forcing three quick corners and Moussoufa having the miss of the game. He was unmarked at the far post to meet a cross, but cleared the bar from six yards. Spurs soon took charge again and with the visitors trying to push forward more we began exploiting the space created. With the wing-backs being passed almost effortlessly by Wettner and Yeates, the Chelsea back three had a lot of work. They made many last ditch tackles and interceptions as Marney, and Black joined the other two midfielders in linking up with Barnard and Slabber with deft one-twos.

In the 67th minute Barnard got free on the right, and his centre was cleared to Wettner who stepped inside and fired in off the near post only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. The second goal came six minutes later when Marney was released by Wettner and advanced to the edge of the area before firing low past Wizik's right hand.

Chelsea made a double substitution in an attempt to make some headway up front without much success. The only down point came at the end with Barnard and Watt tussling on the right. Following a warning from the referee the next tussle resulted in Lee throwing his arm up to the other's face. He was very lucky to only receive a yellow.

I came away from this game thinking we had won by a bigger margin. This was a very good game for Spurs with good approach play and but for a very solid visotrs' back three there might have been a goal fest. I lost count of the corners won. The fact that some of the players have already played a number of games in the reserves has toughened them up as the more physical commitment(four bookings) paved the way to controlling this match. We shall see how many of them will play on Wednesday in the reserves at Stevenage.

Next week at the lodge the U-17 side will be playing Leicester at midday. If you are not going to United then come along and see the new boys with the likes Price and Malcolm.

Ray

© Ray Lo

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