Premier Reserve League, South
           Brisbane Rd, Leyton, E10
          Monday 9th March 2009, 7pm

           SPURS     v     FULHAM
       (White/Blue)      (Red/Black)
           4-4-2            4-4-2 

            0(0)             3(2)

        Ben Alnwick  1 Wesley Fordingham
       Chris Gunter  2 Fredrik Stoor
        Gareth Bale  3 Toni Kallio
     Jake Livermore  4 Adam Watts
      Ricardo Rocha  5 Chris Smalling(C)
     Steven Caulker  6 Matthew Saunders
 Giovani Dos Santos  7 Zoltan Gera
    Jamie O’Hara(C)  8 Wayne Brown
   Frasier Campbell  9 Erik Nevland
       Adel Taarabt 10 Giles Barnes
    Andros Townsend 11 Julian Gray

        Lee Butcher 12 Marcus Bettinelli
     Yuri Berchiche 13 Matthew Briggs
                       (9)70Mins.
         Danny Rose 14 Keanu Marsh-Brown
          (4)59Mins.   (10)79Mins.
         Ryan Mason 15 Courtney Harris
         (10)70Mins.   (7)70Mins.
     Jonathan Obika 16 Michael Uwezu
          (7)46Mins.

Coaches:-
           C. Allen    B. McKinlay

Scorers:-
                       Brown 27(pen)
                       Barnes 40
                       Briggs 90+2

Booked:-
  Alnwick 26(Holding)

Referee:- D. Sheldrake
Assistants:- G. Atkins, L. Wood, E. Walker

Attendance:- Est. 100

Spurs defended the South End in the first half and it was obvious from the outset that all the changes affected the performance of the side. This allied with the Fulham players closing down quickly caused the hurrying of passes and prompting mistakes. Taarabt fired over after a good run by Giovani. Alnwick saved from Gray before Gera saw his effort go over for a corner. Gera was on target with his next shot which Alnwick failed to hold at the first attempt. Campbell’s low drive was deflected for a corner. Townsend had a shot wide and O’Hara hit the side netting with Bale sending his free kick over.

Giovani then fired over before the visitors took the lead. Gunter under-hit a backpass which Nevland ran onto. Alnwick blocked him as he lifted the ball over him to collect a yellow card and concede a penalty. Brown put his kick to Alnwick’s left as the keeper went the other way. Alnwick had to be quick to save from a volley from Saunders, and Fordingham saved a free kick from O’Hara. Barnes took a free kick from a more central position and scored with a well placed effort into the top right corner. O’Hara put another effort wide before the visitors almost got another goal when they struck the post from a corner.

Obika came on for the second half in place of Giovani and went up front with Taarabt dropping into the midfield. Kallio went wide from a free kick before Townsend tested Fordingham. Nevland flighted an effort onto the top of the crossbar, whilst O’Hara fired wide at the other end. Alnwick saved from Gera for a corner and then saved the following header from Nevland for another which Watts put wide.

Rose came on for Livermore in an attempt to spark the side without success as Nevland again hit the bar. Rose did hit a shot over the bar before Allen made his last change sending on Mason in place of Taarabt. Fulham took off Gera and Nevland as they looked to close out the game. This allowed Spurs to make a few chances with Campbell having his effort saved and Obika firing wide. Rose saw his strike saved and O’Hara’s drive was turned out for a corner. Fordingham saved Caulker’s attempt from the corner. With the game going into added time Briggs headed in a cross for the third.

The more experienced Spurs side lost to a team that have played together more and were more prepared to battle for every ball. They gave Spurs no time to settle and forced mistakes that they capitalised upon. Next monday the Reserves take on Chelsea at Brisbane Road. Next week is Chelsea week with the reserves meeting on Monday and the U-18 sides playing Saturday morning before the first teams play in the afternoon.

Ray