FA Premier Academy South
Spurs Lodge, Luxborough Lane, Chigwell
Saturday 13th March 2004, ko 11am

SPURS (2) 5 v FULHAM (1) 1

SPURS (White/Blue) (4-4-2) - Forecast, Kyriacou, Wright(C), Lewis, Riley, Welch, Heller, Stevens, Seanla(Allen 53), Dawkins(Davis 75), Martin(Mascarenhas 61)

Unused subs - Button; Hamed

FULHAM(Black/Red)(4-4-2) - Thomas, 2, 3, 4, 5(13 56), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10(14 46), 11

Scorers - Dawkins 6, 10 33, Heller 44, 87, Allen 71, Davis 80.

Bookings - None

There was a good crowd on a cold dank morning at the Lodge where the ground was soft and heavy. I was joined by Paul Smith while David Pleat and some of the older players who had moved up to the reserves, like Foster and Jalal came by. Andy Porter helped with the team as the usual lack of team sheets was a problem for me. Thanks to some good results the U-17s are in with a chance of making the play-offs.

The team lined up with Chris Riley and Tom Welch at the back flanked by John Kyriacou on the right and Mark Wright on the left. Little Danny Stevens partnered Stuart Lewis in centre midfield with Richard Heller on the right and Joe Martin on the left. Claude Seanla partnered Simon Dawkins in attack.

Spurs kicked off attacking the South goal and took an early lead when Dawkins scrambled the ball home after good work by Heller down the right. Simon nearly added to this when his effort was cleared off the line following a corner, which Thomas, the visitors keeper failed to hold. The game became a fast paced end to end contest as both sides showed that they wanted to win with the Fulham 9 going close twice in the opening thirty minutes with other efforts from the 10 and 7.

The Cottagers deserved their equaliser as they had looked sharper in attack. The goal came from a corner to the far post that Tommy Forecast missed allowing the 10 to head home. Two minutes later Dawkins headed a corner in at the other end which the ref initially gave but changed his mind after the Fulham coach and some of their players pointed to his assistant who had his flag up for a foul on the keeper. The 9 then got behind the defence only to see his effort hit the inside of the post and cleared. Spurs went in front again just before the end of the half when Heller's run set-up Seanla for a shot which the keeper blocked, but saw the ball come out to Heller following up who side-footed it into the net for his first Spurs goal at this level.

The second half started much as the first one ended with both sides creating chances in a close game. Ollie Allen (See the associated article about the little bit of history Allen created)came on early for Seanla for his first appearance in a Spurs shirt and showed some intelligent running which opened up the visitors a little more than before and this, coupled with the 5 being subbed just after was the turning point.

Brian Mascarenhas came on for Martin and played in the centre with Stevens moving to the left. The home side now began to play longer balls from the middle for the forwards who began to pull the defenders around and getting behind them. In the 71st minute Allen found himself in acres of space as he ran onto a through ball and planted it beyond the keepers reach. Jimmy Neighbour sent on Jamie Davis for the last quarter of an hour in place of Dawkins to protect the lead as he went to the right side of midfield with Heller moving to the left. Twice Davis made runs down the right wing to receive through balls, scoring across the keeper on the second occasion as the Fulham defence went awol. The visitors strikers kept trying at the other end, but were let down by poor marking at the back which was shown up again when Heller ran through on the left to add a fifth for his second with three minutes to go.

An impressive win for the Juniors when you consider that a number of the regulars from the start of the season were missing, most like O'Hara and Lee stepping up to the Seniors and Reserve teams. Fulham played well for most of the game losing it in the second half when the defence went to pieces. They need too hold together next week and allow their strikers the chance to score which will be against West Ham. The Hammers won today 6-0 to stay three points ahead of us and increase the goal difference over us to 7. This means that even with a win in the last game next week at Watford the U-17s will probably miss the chance to go above them and qualify for the play-offs. Next saturday at the lodge the U-19s entertain Aston Villa who have had a patchy season. Before that the first team play Newcastle on sunday and the Reserves entertain, if that is the word for it, Arsenal at Stevenage on monday.

Ray

· Read the associated article regarding Allen's piece of history here

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