Academy Premier League South
           Reading Training Ground,
       Hogwood Park, Berks., RG40 4PT
      Saturday 16th February 2008, 11am
 
        READING       v       SPURS
     (Blue/White)          (All Yellow)
         4-4-2                4-4-2
 
          0(0)                 2(1)
 
       Alex McCarthy  1 Oscar Jansson
          Dan Spence  2 Adam Smith
        Julian Kelly  3 Sam Cox
        Harry Bayley  4 Yaser Kasim(C)
         Patrick Cox  5 Yuri Berchiche
     Ashley Mitchell  6 Takura Mtandari
         Won Ji Dong  7 Kyle Fraser-Allen
       Tom Hateley(C) 8 Jake Livermore
    Victor Illugason  9 Alec Olsen
         Sik Kim Wun 10 David Hutton
           Josh Webb 11 Andros Townsend

         Hee Nam Tae 12 Ryan Mason
          (10)71Mins.
     Ross Kitteridge 13 Jamie Butler
         John Lyskov 14 Jonathan Obika
       Jahson Downes 15 Daniel Hutchins
           (4)46Mins.   (3)46Mins.
      Kelvin Bossman 16 Sol Asajile
           (7)54Mins.

Coaches:-
            E.Dolan     A.Inglethorpe

Scorers:-               Townsend 10
                        Olsen  69

Referee:- J.Scott
Assistants:- P.Brill, M.Walker

It was a very cold morning with a rising sun just taking the frost off the grass (It felt colder than Prague). There was a crowd of around sixty at the Reading training ground which has improved since last season.

Spurs lined up with Mtandari alongside Berchiche at the back with Smith on the right and Cox on the left. Livermore was next to Kasim in centre midfield with Fraser-Allen wide on the right and Townsend on the left. Hutton was up front with Olsen but with licence to roam. Interestingly Reading started with two Korean lads and one on the bench.

Spurs kicked off attacking the right end and found that as with the fixture last season the Royals are a big physical side who attempted to steamroller their way through every challenge. Kasim and Livermore stood up well in the middle and the pace on the flanks kept the wingers a half step ahead of most tackles.

Once Spurs got into a quick tempo of short passing with the pace down the wings, the bigger size of the home side was less of a problem. Illugason fired wide in the first minute with Livermore doing the same a couple of minutes later as both sides were given little time to settle on the ball in the opening period. Bayley headed a free kick over from ten yards and Webb went wide before Spurs took the lead. McCarthy completely misjudged the corner kick by Townsend and helped it over the line at the near post. A Spurs keeper for the future maybe?:)

Illugason had another effort wide before Hutton's 20 yard dipper was held by McCarthy. Dong was getting the better of Cox on the right and came inside to test Jansson. Good approach play came to nothing when Townsend fired over before the keeper saved from Hutton. Hutton followed this with a free kick that just cleared the crossbar. Wun created an opening for himself but was foiled by Jansson before Livermore put the last chance of the half over the bar.

Both sides made a change for the second half. Reading introduced Downes whose beard looked shorter than last year when he played for the U-16's and Hutchins replaced Cox who was giving away a lot of height to the home side. Spurs were having the better of the play now and came close to increasing the lead when Olsen's shot was blocked on the line with the keeper beaten. Downes hit a speculative effort over before a snap shot from Fraser-Allen was saved by McCarthy.

Spurs got their second when Fraser-Allen found Olsen in the inside right channel and he fired across the keeper into the far corner. Reading's last chance fell to Wun before he was replaced which he put wide. Following a corner on the left Mtandari headed over. In the 83rd minute Hutton got down the left and drove his cross in low. It went right across the goal to Olsen coming in towards the far post. His effort from an acute angle seemed to go in at the near post as McCarthy dived and grabbed it and rolled out from behind the line quickly. Townsend hit the last chance over the bar in stoppage time.

This was a good result against a strong team who had won at the Lodge earlier in the season. They have faded since and the run of results that the U-18's have put together has seen Spurs climb to third - two points behind Leicester and a further two behind group leaders Villa.

Having beaten Villa the previous week they play the Foxes on 1st March at the Lodge. Inglethorpe has developed a team that has pace on the flanks that most teams cannot match and skill all over the pitch. They do not buckle under physical pressure as Spurs sides before them have done and have a few players that can match such aggression. I should be at the Lodge next Saturday for the game against Leicester who will be wanting to forget the 5-3 defeat earlier and stay above us in the group table.

I had a word with Alex Inglethorpe before the game and he confirmed that they beat APIA 9-0 in Italy which clears up that query.

Ray

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