Premier Reserve League, South     
        Griffin Park, Brentford     
       Monday 27th April 2009, 7pm

        CHELSEA     v     SPURS 
       (All Blue)      (White/Blue)
         4-4-2            4-4-2

          3(1)             0(0)

          Jan Sebek 1 Ben Alnwick
 Seth Orofi-Twumasi 2 Adam Smith
      Jeffrey Bruma 3 Gilberto
  Sam Hutchinson(C) 4 Jake Livermore(C)
Patrick Van Aanholt 5 Ricardo Rocha
 Daniel Philliskick 6 Steven Caulker
   Ricardo Quaresma 7 Takura Mtandari
       Jacob Mellis 8 John Bostock
       Fabio Borini 9 Kyle Fraser-Allen
       Jacopo Sala 10 Simon Dawkins
      Frank Nouble 11 Jacques Maghoma

    Fabio Ferreira 12 Oscar Jansson
        (10)83Mins.
    Niclas Heimann 13 Sam Cox
        Ben Gordon 14 Calum Butcher
         (8)92Mins. 
    Conor Clifford 15 Yaser Kasim
           71Mins.    (10)62Mins.
      Adam Phillip 16 Nathan Byrne
                      (8)46Mins.

Scorers:-
     Borini 28, 75  
       o.g. 48   

Booked:-
     Nouble(Foul) 68   Rocha(?) 68

Red Card:-
                       Livermore(Foul) 70

Coaches:-
       P. Clement      C. Allen

Ref:- G. Jerden

Spurs lined up with Caulker alongside Rocha at the back with Smith on the right and Gilberto on the left. Livermore and Bostock started in the centre of midfield with Mtandari on the right and Maghoma on the left with Fraser-Allen and Dawkins up front.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the west end and Livermore drove an effort over in the opening minute. Spurs tried to apply pressure early on but could not supply the front two with good chances. Maghoma fired well over from outside the area as the Chelsea midfield prevented the visitors from getting too close.

Quaresma broke down the right and had a shot that Alnwick saved. Sala put his effort wide from a Borini cross before Dawkins fired over at the other end. Livermore saw his drive saved before Smith ran from deep coming inside to shoot but his effort was diverted for a corner.

Bostock was not doing very well and had been switched with Maghoma wide on the left. When he (Bostock) lost the ball in the attacking half, Ofori-Twumasi released Quaresma who escaped Gilberto and crossed for Borini to head in at the far post.

Spurs tried to respond and Maghoma fired over before Sebek saved from Dawkins for a corner. Bostock did cross for Fraser-Allen to drive over and then Dawkins went wide. Maghoma was off target with another effort before Borini headed over from a Sala cross.

Bostock was replaced by Byrne for the second half to play on the right with Mtandari moving over to the left. Maghoma fired wide and Quaresma saw his effort go over before the blues increased their lead. Borini drifted to the right and fired a low drive across goal which Caulker tried to clear but only succeeded in turning it past Alnwick.

Following a corner Rocha collected a loose ball and shot on the turn just wide of the post. The tide was turning in favour of the home side and Nouble drove over before Alnwick saved from Sala.

Kasim replaced Dawkins in the centre of midfield to add a bit of steel because the blues were so physical in their challenges. Alnwick saved from Hutchinson following a good run through the middle. Following a strong challenge by Nouble on Rocha, the Portugese player showed his annoyance by glaring into his face. The ref booked both players. Minutes later Philliskick stepped across Livermore who pushed him over. The ref deemed it bad enough to show Livermore a red card – his second in two games.

Reduced to ten men the visitors lost ground to the home side who looked to exploit the advantage given them. Sala brought another save from Alnwick before Smith failed to clear a cross and Borini drove it into the net.

Spurs began to play with more pace using long balls out to the wing for Smith and Fraser-Allen to chase. Smith crossed for Fraser-Allen to test Sebek. Even Caulker got down the right but crossed like a defender. The ref even gave a couple of free kicks to Spurs in the Chelsea half as they committed the defenders. This left more space at the back where Nouble drove wide and Quaresma also missed the target.

Spurs were not as sharp as in previous games and despite a lot of end to end play they could not break down the Chelsea defence. The ref did not help insofar as he let a lot of challenges by the home side go un-punished compared to Spurs. He did not give Spurs a free kick in the attacking half of the pitch until well into the second half.

This defeat means that what slim chance of winning the league was extinguished before the final game next week at Portsmouth. So long as we do not lose by a hatful at Portsmouth we will finish as runners up. The academy lads have to pick themselves up for the game on Saturday against West Ham to stay at the top of their group.

Ray