FA Premier Academy League
Spurs Lodge, Chigwell, Essex
Saturday 17th September 2005, 11am

Spurs U-18s 3 (2) Fulham U-18s 0 (0)

Scorers:-
Seanla 8,21
Hamed, 80

Referee:- Mr. S Newton

Teams:-
Spurs (4-1-4-1):- Button; Riley, Mills (Capt.), Peprah, Kyriacou; Lewis; Davis, Maghoma, Livermore, Seanla (sub Hamed, 69); Dawkins

Subs not used:- Forecast; Lake, Smith

No bookings

Fulham (4-4-2):- No team sheet

Booked:- Fulham 2

A small crowd was present on what was a chilly morning with a warm sun shining down on a heavy pitch due to rain the previous evening.

Spurs lined up with Nathan Peprah alongside Captain Leigh Mills at the back with Chris Riley moving to right back and John Kyriacou moving across to the left back position. Stuart Lewis played behind a midfield of Jacques Maghoma and Jake Livermore in the middle and Jamie Davis on the right with second striker Claude Seanla wide on the left supporting Simon Dawkins up front.

Spurs kicked off attacking the South end and soon had the visitors on the back foot with Dawkins heading over as early as the 4th minute. Spurs took the lead when Seanla collected a long diagonal ball on the left, beat the full back and scored with an angled drive inside the far post. The home side kept up the pressure for the whole half with Dawkins heading wide from a couple of yards at the far post before Seanla got his second when he prodded home in a crowded six yard box.

The game was so one sided that Button only had one cross to collect in the whole half with the Cottagers only having a couple of corners and a couple of free kicks near the goal.

Livermore playing his first game did well and had a shot just wide, while Peprah had a tricky start but settled in and showed some of the qualities of a couple of seasons ago when I first saw him play in the U-17 side. Davis and Riley dominated the right side and Seanla was too strong for the visitors 2 who was finally cautioned for pulling him back once to often.

The second half started with Fulham having made three substitutions taking off both full backs which added some bite to their back four which was missing in the first half. Spurs still had most of the play with Seanla having a couple of shots, Livermore heading over and Dawkins making the keeper stretch to turn his shot away.

Fulham then had an effort just wide which was followed a minute later with another, then a couple of corners and finally a shot on target in the 62nd minute. The spell of Fulham pressure did not last long and with Pat Holland bringing on Radwan Hamed for Seanla the home side took control again.

Hamed went up front with Dawkins moving to the left and both caused problems with their pace running onto through balls and they combined for the third goal when Dawkins picked up the ball in his own half and went past the defenders before crossing the ball for the advancing Hamed to score in the middle of the area.

I don't know whether it was the formation or that Fulham were a poor side on the day, but it was a very one-sided contest which does not happen very often at this level. Spurs had a solid back four with Lewis playing well in front of it and a midfield with pace on the flanks and up front as well.

Next week the youth team travel to Cardiff before returning on the 1st October when Birmingham are the visitors when the kick off will be at noon.

Ray Lo

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