FA BARCLAYCARD PREMIERSHIP RESERVE LEAGUE
TUESDAY 31ST AUGUST, 2004
SPURS RESERVES 2 (1) WEST HAM RESERVES 0 (0)

Scorers:-
Carrick, 17
Bunjevcevic, 76

Referee:- Mr. G. Sutton

Attendance:- Est. 750

Teams:-
Spurs (4-4-2):- Eyre; Ifil, Gardner, Defendi, Bunjevcevic (Capt.); Marney, Carrick, O'Hara, Ricketts; Barnard, Silva (sub Malcolm, 81)

Subs not used:- Forecast; O'Donoghue, McKie; Lewis

Booked:- Ifil

West Ham (4-4-2) (NB - line-up to be confirmed):- Walker; McClenahan, Laws, Ward, Blewitt; Wright, Noble, Lomas (Capt.), Bunce (sub Yao, 87); Ashkodi (sub Allen, 76), Sofiane (sub Brady, 76)

Subs not used:- Behcet; Henry

No bookings

All eyes were fixed upon Spurs new signing Michael Carrick, as he made his debut in Spurs colours against his old team tonight. Carrick did not disappoint, giving a cultured if sometimes languid performance, which was capped with a well-placed goal in the 17th minute to put Spurs in the lead. Carrick went through the gears as the game progressed and in the second half, showed occasions of pace and acceleration, which will be required if he is to break into the Premiership midfield line-up against Norwich on September 12th.

There were plenty of other attractions in the Spurs side, such as the 4 starters (Eyre, Ifil, Marney and Barnard) who have come through the Spurs academy programme, the 2 who we acquired from Arsenal (Ricketts and O'Hara), 2 who have slipped out of favour for the first team (Gardner and Bunjevcevic), a striker who will do well to make any impression on the first team (Silva), and last, but not least 18 year old Brazilian defender named naturally - Defendi!

The youngsters fought Carrick every inch of the way for attention and played some very attractive football along the way. Gardner made one or two dodgy plays which would be punished at the highest level, and is clearly going to have to fight tooth and nail for his first team place. Defendi was fast, strong, and good in the air, and looks every inch a star of the future.

With such a strong side out, one might have expected an easy ride for Spurs, but they were so nearly caught out from the kick-off when Youssef Sofiane was put clear, but shot across goal, with a slight touch from Eyre getting the visitors a corner. Eyre had to make a close range save from Tommy Laws header, but after that, any Irons attacks were sporadic. Silva had a decent shot after 9 minutes, being provided with the ball by Bunjevcevic. Hammers' busy goalkeeper James Walker got a touch to the shot across his goal, and from the corner Gardner headed down causing the ball to bounce up over the bar.

Michael Carrick's goal came after an exchange of passes with Ricketts, starting on the left. Carrick calmly turned, and placed a right foot shot low to the right of his former training mate. Carrick's celebrations were restrained. Ricketts hit a post soon after that with a fine left foot shot, after a ball from Barnard, returning from his broken collarbone sustained in Sweden 6 weeks ago. After 28 minutes, a great ball from Phil Ifil switched the play from right to left, and Rohan Ricketts passed inside to Marney, who hit a great dipping 25 yard shot that Walker tipped over for another corner.

Carrick gave Silva a lovely opportunity with a good ball over the defence, but the Cape Verdes man, who should have hit a right foot shot, failed to control his movement and the ball, and totally fluffed the chance.

Throughout the night there was plenty of frustration from Clive Allen, now the full time Reserves Coach, as two-footed tackles by West Ham midfielders went unpunished, a blatant foul throw was ignored, and the linesman's offside flag was on automatic pilot, although sometimes late! It was a while before there was a decent chance after the break, but on 53 minutes, Spurs had a good move from the back. Eyre intelligently returned the ball to Ifil, whose long ball was this time controlled well by Silva, finding Ricketts in space but offside. The decision had been made before Rohan found the net.

After 65 minutes, Carrick had a great run from the half way line, carrying the ball into the area, and setting up Lee Barnard, whose shot was well saved by that man Walker. Spurs second goal came after Bunjevcevic got the most marginal of touches to a Ricketts cross that deceived the defence and crept inside the far post. Ricketts became more and more involved and effective as the game progressed, getting himself into good shooting positions, but either shooting wide, or not making quite the right decision regarding the pass. One run from Rohan got him into a one on one situation, and he did the unselfish thing, sliding the ball for Marney, who unfortunately slipped over at the crucial moment.

There was a late goalmouth scramble at the Spurs end, but the ball was blocked for a corner, and Spurs preserved their two goal margin of victory. Carrick got a special cheer from the Spurs crowd as he came off at the end, and also plenty of genuine affection from his former team-mates and coaching staff. For all the chances they had, I really think Spurs should have won this game more convincingly.

Next up for the Reserves are Southampton (Away) next Tuesday. The following Monday, sees them at Broadhall Way, Stevenage again, for the visit of Crystal Palace. The under-18 side are at home this Saturday (11 a.m.) at Spurs Lodge against Norwich.

· One piece of trivia I failed to mention was the fact that Clive Allen's son - Ollie, was on the bench for West Ham and made an appearance. Ollie guested for Spurs under 19s last season. See the following URL:-http://www.spursodyssey.com/0304/ollie.html

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