Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List

FA Academy U-19 League, Group D,
Spurs Lodge, Luxborough Lane, Chigwell
Saturday 10th January 2004, ko 11am

SPURS 0 (0) NORWICH CITY 1 (1)

SPURS(4-4-2) - Probable team was Eyre; Ifil, McKie, Hicks, Foster(C), Dobson, Watson(Maghoma 75), Malcolm, Slabber, O'Hara, Francis(Seanla 75), apologies if incorrect.

NORWICH(4-5-1) - Lewis, Willis, Halliday, Osborne(Crane 60), Watts(Chick 65), Howell, Blackburn, Smith(C), Eagle(Batt 85), Crow, Howlett

Scorer - Crow 36

Booked - none

It was an overcast morning with a heavy surface for the first Youth game at The Lodge following the Christmas break. There was a small crowd with the addition of Ray Clemence watching the two England keepers on show and Owen Price made an appearance, he looks to have recovered from his broken leg and is back in training.

Spurs lined up with Foster and Dobson at the back with Ifil and McKie outside them. Hicks and O'Hara in central midfield with Watson and Francis on the flanks, both normally defenders which suggests that we are short of players, and Malcolm with Slabber up front.

Norwich kicked off attacking the Park Lane end but were quickly put under pressure. With O'Hara controlling the midfield the extra Canary in the midfield made no difference as the home side dominated the first half hour. Malcolm hit the bar following one of the many corners and it wasn't until the 25th minute that Nicky Eyre touched the ball but after that they began to get into the game.

Following a free kick the closest they came to scoring was when Eyre saved from Smith, but it was still against the run of play when they scored. Breaking from midfield Dobson failed to clear a through ball from Howlett to Crow who fired home under Eyre. Two minutes later they hit the bar with a looping centre before Malcolm came closest to scoring when his effort was cleared off the line by Lewis.

Spurs started the second half much the same way as the first but the visitors had settled into their rhythm and soon started to dominate as the extra man in midfield took control as they attacked with pace. Pat Holland subbed Francis and Watson and brought on another striker and midfielder who I have seen playing for the U-17's and who I believe are Claude Seanla and Jack Maghoma(due to the penny pinching by the club in not issuing teamsheets I cannot be sure). Norwich finished the strongest of the two and looked the likeliest to score.

This was a game that we failed to score when dominating the play (corner count was 12 to 1) and paying the price. I doubt that they will fail again in the same circumstances. Some of the players missing were probably with the Reserves, training for the game on Monday when they entertain Coventry City at Stevenage. Next week the U-19's go to Wimbledon, so the U-17's will play West Ham at the Lodge.

Ray

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