Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List

        FA Premier Academy League
Arsenal Training ground, Bell Lane, London Colney
        Saturday 23rd April 2005, ko 10.45am

     ARSENAL        v       SPURS
      4-4-2                 4-4-2
    (Red/White)          (White/Blue)

       7(2)                    1(1)

      Mark Howard   1 Tommy Forecast
       Sean Kelly   2 Chris Riley
 Issa Abdul Kadir   3 Charlie Daniels
    Johan Djourou   4 Stuart Lewis
   Kerrea Gilbert   5 Kieran McKenna(C)
   Fabrice Muamba   6 Leigh Mills
      Jay Simpson   7 Andy Barcham
     Mark Randall   8 Radwan Hamed
  Nicklas Bendtner  9 Claude Seanla
     Arturo Lupoli 10 Jamie O'Hara
     Ryan Smith(C) 11 Joe Martin 

                   12 John Kyriacou
                      (11)90 Mins.
                   13
                   14 Richard Heller 
                      (8) 72 Mins.
                   15 Nathan Peprah 
                      (6) 80 Mins.

Booking - Muamba(2 footed tackle through the player) 11 Mins.

Sent Off - Lewis(2 footed tackle) 21 Mins.

The last Youth League match of the season was played at the home of our local rivals on the George Armstrong memorial pitch. It was a very good surface for the Youth teams to play on. The weather was overcast with spots of rain and just a small crowd. Behind us was the main training complex which is impressive and it is no wonder that the old one burnt itself down.

The Spurs lined up with McKenna partnering Mills at the back with Riley on the right and Daniels on the left. Former Gunners O'Hara and Lewis started in central midfield with Barcham wide on the right and Martin on the left. The visitors started well prompted by O'Hara and Lewis wanting to prove a point I suspect and Barcham running at the full back to good effect. Mills had a header saved in the third minute and headed over from the resultant corner.The home side were using the width of the pitch well with both wide men causing our defenders problems. Neither of their backs looked solid giving away fouls and corners so when Barcham turned Kadir both ways before skipping clear for a run on goal a chance was on, only for Muamba to go through him with both feet. It took Andy a while to recover and the gooner got a yellow card. Ten minutes later came the decisive moment of the game. Stuart Lewis went in with a block tackle on Lupoli that was similar to the one earlier but with less force as the player did not fly through the air. With the Arsenal player rolling around in agony the ref reached for his red card.

I was making a note that Lewis got a yellow when Paul Smith said it was red. Having seen the other offence we were both surprised as were most of our players. That was the signal for the dying Lupoli to recover and walk to the touch line. The Spurs lads regrouped with Martin coming inside and Hamed moving over to the left, but they kept pushing forward. Kelly gave away a free-kick just outside the Gunners area and O'Hara hit the bar with the kick. A strong run through the middle by Djourou drew the defence leaving Bendtner unmarked in front of goal when the ball was squared to put them in front. The tide started to turn as the home side began to exploit the man advantage to put pressure on the defence. Spurs were still trying to go forward using longer balls when with ten minutes before the break Barcham broke down the right and nutmegged the fullback before putting the ball low across the goal for Seanla to turn in. Five minutes later and a bit of skill by Smith saw him get round the back a score with a shot into the far corner from a narrow angle.

It was backs against the wall in the second half with Spurs defending deep and the home side moving the ball quickly using the width of the pitch dragging defenders all over the place. They increased their lead with good play down the left by Smith whose centre was turned in by Simpson. The same player scored the next goal from the same position on the edge of the Dee before completing his hat-trick with another low drive. After the 4th goal Pat Holland had brought on Heller to add pace down the left which set up a chance for Seanla but after the 5th decided that that was it and took off Mills to give Peprah a run out. In the last minute Simpson got down the right unchallenged and centred for Bendtner to get his second. Again Holland made a change by bringing on Kyriacou in place of Martin - a bit like closing the door after the horse has bolted. There was still time, as the ref waited before blowing his whistle, for Lupoli to run onto a through pass to beat Forecast in stoppage time.

I'm sorry if this sounds like sour grapes but due to the ref's uneven handling of two bookable offences what would probably have been a close end of season game became one sided. We had looked the stronger in that opening spell but they had some good attacking players which with that man advantage told in the end. This is the second leg of three games between Spurs and the Gunners at all levels and it is one all with the decider on Monday.

Ray

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