More about Jamie O'Hara
Jamie O'Hara is 21 years old, born in Kent on 25th September, 1986. O'Hara's birthplace has been reported as Dartford or Farnborough. Jamie first played for Spurs at under-17 level in January 2003, after being signed from Arsenal. One of his first Academy games was against his former team on 25th January, 2003, when Spurs won 3-1, with two goals by current reserve Andy Barcham, and one from Owen Price.
It is interesting to observe who was also in that team. Owen Price was signed as a "wonder-kid", but never made it at Spurs. For two years he has played his football in Scandinavia, currently with Swedish club Ljungskile, where he has had just three substitute outings this season.
Charlie Lee was a great captain for our reserve side but moved on to Peterborough where he gets regular rave reviews, playing a midfield role. Stuart Lewis was an Arsenal sub that day, and also later signed for the Spurs Academy, but now plays in the midfield for Stevenage.
One of the Spurs squad that day is a long-standing member of the Spurs Odyssey message board, and now plays his football for fun!
As for Jamie, he made great progress through the ranks at Tottenham, and has primarily played in the centre of midfield, where he has great creative skills and a useful left foot shot from open play and dead ball situations. Jamie has occasionally played down the left of midfield, as he was asked to do, and did so effectively for the last quarter of an hour at Portsmouth.
Having established himself in Clive Allen's Reserve side, Jamie went on loan to Chesterfield at the end of the 2005-06 season, playing 19 League One games, and scoring 5 goals, most of which came at the end of mazy runs.
This season, Jamie went out on loan to Millwall, where he again impressed his adopted fans, starting 10, being used as a substitute in 4 games, and scoring 2 more League One goals.
At Spurs last season, Jamie made it onto the bench three times under Martin Jol, who I know rated him highly. It was no surprise to see him gain recognition under the new coaching team of Juande Ramos, and I was really pleased with Jamie's performance, and for the lad, as he made such an impressive and mature debut.
O'Hara had everything to do with the Spurs goal, making a run with the ball from the left to centre, feeding it to Lennon who made the cross for Berbatov. Jamie also teed up Defoe for one of his chances, and as the game was drawing to a close, he showed maturity - not panic - against an England International full back, to keep possession and not give the ball away cheaply.
All in all then, it was a great cameo, appreciated by the away fans who chanted his name "O'Hara, O'Hara!" We all hope for more from Jamie O'Hara in the not too distant future.
If you use the search box below, and enter O'Hara, taking the option to search the Spurs Odyssey site, you will find many references to his past appearances at all levels for Spurs. Jamie has also represented England at various Youth levels.
· Read the Portsmouth Match Report here
