Premier Reserve League, South  
          Hawthorns, West Bromwich   
        Monday 23rd March 2009, 7pm

           W B A    v     SPURS 
      (Black/White)   (All LightBlue)
           4-4-2          4-4-2

           1(1)            2(0)

        Ryan Allsop 1 Ben Alnwick
     Jared Hodgkiss 2 Alan Hutton
     Dwayne Samuels 3 Pascal Chimbonda(C)
        Kim Do-Heon 4 Jake Livermore
          Ryan Donk 5 Michael Dawson
      Carl Hoefkens 6 Ricardo Rocha
     Juan Menseguez 7 Jacques Maghoma
     Filipe Texeira 8 Dean Parrett
       Roman Bednar 9 Paul-Jose M単oku
        Luke Moore 10 Danny Rose
       Josh Knight 11 Gilberto

      Paul Downing 12 Mirko Ranieri
     Ashley Lovell 13 Yuri Berchiche
        Chris Wood 14 Adam Smith 
         (7)60Mins.   (2)71Mins.
   Romaine Sawyers 15 Ryan Mason 
         (9)60Mins.   (8)46Mins.
        Sam Mantom 16 Calum Butcher
         (8)66Mins.   (10)84Mins.

Scorers:-
           Donk 38    Gilberto 50
                      Chimbonda 90+3

Booked:-
  Bednar 27(Clash)    Chimbonda 16(Late)
 Teixeira 39(Abuse)   Hutton 27(Clash)
                      Butcher 88(Late)

Coaches:-
       M. Appleton    C. Allen

Ref:- D. Mohareb
Assistants:- A. Clayton, C. Rushton, P. Hardisty 

Attendance:- ~300

Spurs lined up with Rocha and Dawson at the back with Hutton on the right and Chimbonda on the left. Parrett and Livermore started in the centre of midfield with Maghoma on the right and Gilberto on the left. Up front Rose supported M単oku who had a few minutes at Chelsea (for the Academy) after his injury.

Spurs defended the west goal in the first half and were soon put under pressure by the home side. After five minutes a low drive by Menseguez was saved by the outstretched foot of Alnwick with Moore firing over the loose ball. Gilberto hit the far post from a free kick following a foul on Rose. Chimbonda was the first name into the ref's book when he fouled Menseguez to prevent him breaking away. Do-Heon fired wide before Teixeira saw his free kick saved. Bednar was proving to be a nuisance tangling with Rocha and then with Hutton who gave him a shove before both were booked. Alnwick saved a drive by Bednar before the home side went in front following a corner. The ball was played back to Teixeira to strike wide of the far post only for Donk to stick out his foot and deflect it back across the goal and into the net. West Brom kept the pressure up and Bednar fired wide. Teixeira talked his way into the ref's book as he continued to complain about a foul on a colleague. Alnwick had to save again from Bednar before Livermore saw his effort fly well over.

Parrett received a knock at the end of the first half and was replaced by Mason for the second. Maghoma dropped into the middle with M単oku moving to the right and Mason joining Rose up front.

Menesguez drove forward and forced Alnwick into a save before things started to change. Out on the right M単oku was getting the better of Samuels and produced a good ball across the 18 yard line that Gilberto ran onto on the left and drove low into the far corner to level the score.

Minutes later M単oku again put over a cross that Mason dived to head wide when in the clear. Mason fired a free kick wide from a good position before West Brom started making changes. Spurs were now pulling the strings with Allsop saving from Livermore and then Rose. Hutton knew he was not going to play the full 90 minutes and started to overlap more and work the ball down the flank before he came off after over an hour.

Bednar痴 replacement Sawyers fired his effort over after getting past Dawson and Gilberto drove over at the other end. Allen replaced the hard working Rose with Butcher who sat in front of the defence to secure the point. Butcher mistimed his first tackle and was shown the yellow card which seemed rather harsh. The home side came close to winning the game in added time when Alnwick saved from Moore and saw Mantom痴 follow up blocked before Sawyers put the rebound wide. Spurs then won the game two minutes later when Mason took a left side corner and swung it into the area. Chimbonda had to duck to head the ball coming in from the far side which fooled the keeper.

This was a good result after having been under so much pressure in the first half, due mainly to Bednar and Teixeira. Bednar disappeared in the second half and with M単oku moving out to the right it was Spurs applying the pressure. The win also moves them above the gooners who drew with Chelsea. Next Monday the reserves entertain League leaders Aston Villa at Brisbane Rd.

Ray

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