Ray Lo and Paul Smith report from Broadhall Way, Stevenage

FA BARCLAYCARD PREMIERSHIP RESERVE LEAGUE
MONDAY 26TH JANUARY, 2004
SPURS RESERVES 2 (2) PORTSMOUTH RESERVES 0 (0)

Scorers:-
Zamora (pen), 2
Yeates, 18

Attendance:- Est. 500

Referee:- Mr. S. Rubery

Teams:-
Spurs (4-4-2):- Hirschfeld; Ifil, Kelly, Bunjevcevic (Capt.) (sub Foster, 73), Ziege; Yeates, Blondel, Hughes, Ricketts; Barnard, Zamora (sub O'Hara, 64)

Subs not used:- Eyre; McKie; Slabber

Booked:- Hughes, Yeates, Bunjevcevic, Hirschfeld

Sent off (2nd yellow):- Yeates

Portsmouth (3-5-2):- Tardif; Day (sub Crawford, 65), Silk, Howe (sub Hughes, 72); Cooper, Clark (sub Fordyce, 77), Pulis, Pettefer (Capt.), Parker; Pitt, Hunt

Subs not used:- Bradshaw

No bookings

Spurs secured the points in this game through early goals from Bobby Zamora, and Mark Yeates, threatening to overwhelm the young and inexperienced Portsmouth side with a scintillating first half performance. No more goals came though, and the visitors competed more strongly after the break, without really threatening Hirschfeld's goal, whilst Spurs had some more good chances, somehow kept out by Tardif and the rest of the Pompey defence.

The referee, Mr. Rubery, proved to be a very inflexible character, managing to book 4 Spurs players, including Hirschfeld for taking too long over his goal kicks. Finally, he ruined Mark Yeates' night by showing him a second yellow, when most officials would have simply had a word over a foul that was not in any way vicious.

The fact is that, despite the presence of Ziege, and Bunjevcevic, who are both the wrong side of 30, the average age of the Spurs side was just 1 year more than that of Portsmouth, but for much of the game there was chasm of a difference in class between the two sides.

Spurs lined up with 17 year old Philip Ifil at right back, with Kelly and Bunjee in the middle of the defence and Ziege on the left. Had Bunjee been given some sort of morale booster by being made Captain? After all, Mark Hughes would normally fulfill this role. Perhaps it was a message from the watching gallery of Messrs Pleat, and Hughton (along with Pat Holland and Pat Jennings) that Bunjee was part of their plans. Yeates played on the right of midfield, with Blondel and Hughes inside, and Rohan Ricketts on the left flank. Lee Barnard and Bobby Zamora were the strike force. Clive Allen made a return to taking charge of the team.

Portsmouth lined up in a 3-5-2. Ziege had already whipped in a typical free kick to give them something to worry about, before Phil Ifil did well to win the ball near the half way line, sending the ball to Lee Barnard who was brought down as he made his way from right to left across the box. The referee pointed to the spot, and up stepped Zamora to hit a strong left foot shot to the right of the 24 year old Tardif, who does have 14 first team games to his credit.

Spurs were playing at great pace, and Yeates was to the fore, chasing back, and popping up anywhere on the right or in the middle in the Portsmouth half. Blondel started a great move with a ball to Yeates on the inside of Barnard who was on the right. Yeates passed to Lee Barnard who came inside before hitting a strong left foot shot that Tardif took diving low to his right.

Spurs' second goal came after a great long ball from Hughes inside his own half. Yeates was on the right and cut back before deceiving the keeper with a curling left footer that hit the net just inside the right post. The grin on his face suggested it might just have been meant as a cross, but only he knows! After 26 minutes, Yeates was involved in a short corner on the right, taken by Ziege, before the left back hit a shot just over the net on top of the goal. Rohan Ricketts was as impressive as ever, and had a few decent half-chances. The keeper spilled a long low shot from Rohan, but Zamora was just too far away to take advantage. Then Spurs were rewarded for that extra bit of effort. Ziege was in advance of Ricketts, who put in a good challenge allowing the ball to run to Hughes, whose cross was met in the middle of the area by Barnard, heading down for the keeper to save well.

Just before the break, Pompey at last had a chance to speak of as Clark picked up a through ball and hit a decent right footed shot to Hirschfeld. What was it that Chris Hughton said to Clive Allen just before the break? Was it "Give Bobby a quarter of an hour after the break, as we want him fresh for Saturday" ? - or could it have been something on the lines of "We need to keep him fit for that part-exchange plus cash for Defoe"?!!

In any case Zamora was not on for more than 19 minutes after the break, but he did have time to tee up Barnard, who did a bit of ball juggling before whacking a right foot shot, that Tardif did well to save. Zamora was calling hard enough for a Ziege free kick on the hour, and when the ball did reach him, Bobby hit a cracking shot, saved again, then cleared off the line by Silk. Ifil returned the ball from the right and somehow the defence managed to clear for a corner to Spurs.

Portsmouth had returned early during the interval for some serious talking from their coach, and their mission was probably to get tougher in the tackle, and close down the Spurs team more effectively. This they managed more than before, but it was only white shirted players that made Mr. Rubery's collection of names. Pitt did manage a decent shot across goal after a free kick outside the box, before Blondel took advantage of a gift from Pulis, racing thought to the left of the area with the assistance of Yeates, before hitting a low left foot shot that Tardif pushed round for a corner.

Jonathan Blondel had an even better chance to score with 10 minutes to go. Barnard tried to convert another Ifil cross, but could only touch the ball onto to Blondel, no more than 5 yards out. The 19 year old Belgian skied his shot. Then came Yeates' rather harsh dismissal for no more than sticking his foot in the way, before Ricketts tried to repeat his stunning goal of last week (over the bar), and then hit a low drive into the body of the Portsmouth keeper, who certainly had a good work-out tonight!

The referee provided the final talking point of the night when substitute Fordyce hit a decent effort about two feet over the bar, but Mr. Rubery reckoned Hirschfeld must have touched it over. The ten men held onto their clean sheet, and their fifth place in the Reserve league with this, their eighth win of the season. Their next scheduled match is away to Fulham on February 4th, but I expect this game to be re-arranged due to FA Cup replays on that night. Spurs Reserves next home game is on February 11th, against Chelsea.

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