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

        FA Premier Academy League, Group D
      Spurs Lodge, Luxborough Lane, Chigwell
       Saturday 15th. February 2003, 11am 

		SPURS V READING
         (White/Blue)    (Blue/White)
		4-4-2    4-4-2

		1(0)    1(1)

      Paul Rutherford 1 Jamie Young
          Philip Ifil 2 Russell Lucas
         Marcel McKie 3 Gary Middleton
          Mark Hughes 4 Stephen Warren
      Ronnie Henry(C) 5 Peter Castle
         Ricky Dobson 6 Ahmet Rifat
          Lee Barnett 7 Louie Soares
           Mario Noto 8 Simeon Howell
      Michael Malcolm 9 Nathan Bailey
      Jonathan Black 10 Chris Davies
       Nicky Wettner 11 Darren Campbell

         Danny Foster12 Callum Earl
         (7) 75Mins     (2)83Mins.
          Nicky Eyre 13 
         Mark Yeates 14 Leon Bird
          (8)57Mins      (11)87Mins.
          Owen Price 15 Richard Bouton
         (10)57Mins.

Scorers - Davies 44, Hughes 90+

It was a cold frosty morning, and the small band of family, friends and assorted watchers gathered to see this match that was played on a frozen pitch that thawed enough to cause a few players to slip over at the beginning of the second half. As you can see from the line-up, there were a few U-17's out on the pitch which may be due to the up-coming Youth Cup game against Palace.

Henry had Dobson alongside of him at the heart of the defence with Ifil and McKie at right and left back respectively. Hughes and Black with Barnett on the right and Wettner on the left occupied the midfield with Noto and Malcolm up front.

Spurs defended the left goal as Reading started the game by forcing a corner on the right. The visitors came with a big back four who made themselves felt as they played a hard physical game closing down the home side. By allowing little time to dwell on the ball as well as the home side starting poorly, the Royals had the better of the first half, which, despite their limited abilities, they deserved. It was a frustrating time for Spurs as not only were they getting roughed up but they were not firing on all cylinders. Maybe the cup-tie was affecting them or they thought that Reading were going to be a push over, I don't know.

Chances were few with neither side able to maintain possession for long with the Reading keeper having a little more to do than Rutherford. Just before the half ended the visitors scored from an attack down the left. The centre was only half-cleared and Davies volleyed from the edge of the area. Rutherford went down to his left and should have held what was not a difficult shot, but he failed to hold it and it went in.

The second half started with Reading playing the same way as the first and Spurs putting in a bit more effort, without much success. Malcolm, Wettner and Black managed shots on target before Black hurt his shoulder prompting Pat Holland to make a double substitution bringing on Yeates and Price.

Price immediately made a strong run down the right, before over-hitting his centre, but unfortunately he saw the ball remain on the other side of the pitch for long periods. Yeates playing in the centre was having a hard time from Castle and Rifat, but Price began to stretch the defence down their left linking well with Ifil, and did good covering work in defence. Spurs finally began to exert some pressure, forcing defenders to make saving tackles and winning a string of corners as the clock was ticking down and the visitors looked to waste time.

Deep in stoppage time with everybody in the Reading half for the last corner a miracle happened. Wettners' corner was only half cleared and Nicky was able to get it back and drove the ball into the near post. With players still coming out from the corner Hughes was able to get to the ball and direct it into the far corner of the net. There was no flag from the linesman despite the protests from the visitors, which the referee quickly silenced, and they just had time to kick off again before the final whistle. As they left the field Mark said he could not believe it as he was at least two yards offside. Thank you linesman.

This was not a good performance from the senior side, although they had nine juniors in the sixteen. They seemed not to want to get stuck in and the passing was sloppy and but for the linesman we would have lost to what IMO was a poor side. The visitors worked hard, closing down and were physical in the challenge. Malcolm got very little from the defenders and when he did get the better of them he squandered the chances. Yeates got wound up and had to be told to cool it. Price had a good game. Henry and Dobson played well at the back with Ricky the only one in the side that matched the strength of the opposition. Maybe like England in mid-week they had a cup-tie on their minds. The Youth cup game against Palace is at Selhurst Park on Thursday night, and coincidently the U19 and U17's both play Palace (away) next Saturday (22nd February).

Ray

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