Premier Reserve League, South  
     Woodside Pk., Bishop Stortford, Herts.  
        Tuesday 24th February 2009, 7pm

      WEST HAM UTD     v        SPURS 
     (Claret/Blue)           (White/Blue)
        4-4-2                   4-4-2

         1(1)                    3(1)

         Marek Stech   1  Ben Alnwick
        Ryan O’Neill   2  Takura Mtandari
       Ashley Miller   3  Cian Hughton
          Tom Harvey   4  Daniel Hutchins
         Josh Payne(C) 5  Ricardo Rocha(C)
         Matthew Fry   6  Yuri Berchiche
    Junior Stanislas   7  David Hutton
       Georg Grasser   8  Yaser Kasim
        Jack Jeffrey   9  Kudos Oyenuga
        Zavron Hines  10  Adel Taarabt
       Anthony Edgar  11  Jacques Maghoma

       Balint Bajner  12  David Button
          (10)77Mins.
       Peter Loveday  13  Nathan Byrne
                          (9)72Mins.
        David Kearns  14  Jake Nicholson
           (8)48Mins. 
       Ahmed Abdulla  15  Sam Cox 
                          (6)54Mins.
   Callum McNaughton  16  Steven Caulker
           (3)72Mins.     (5)46Mins.

Scorers:-
             Edgar 5      Taarabt 9, 83,
                                  90+1(pen)

Booked:-  Edgar 37(Foul)   

Coaches:-
             A. Dyer      A. Inglethorpe

Referee:- P. Mellin
Assistants:- A. Scott, A. Parker, T. Brooks

Attendance:- About 500

Spurs lined up with Rocha and Berchiche at the back with Mtandari on the right and Hughton on the left. Kasim partnered Hutchins in the centre of midfield with Hutton on the right wing and Maghoma on the left. Taarabt played in his best position as support for Oyenuga up front.

Spurs attacked the East end to my left in the first half against the lively home side and the play settled into an end to end contest.

Hines hit an early free kick wide after Stanislas was stopped by Rocha just outside the area. When Berchiche failed to deal with a ball on the line, Hines played Edgar in on the right side of the area and he beat Alnwick with a strong rising drive. The Hammers only led for a few minutes until Taarabt picked up the ball just inside their half and danced through the middle before beating Stech from 20 yards with a low drive into the left corner.

Oyenuga fired wide after getting free on the right. Taarabt kept trying his luck from distance and saw one turned wide for a corner. Rocha saw his effort from the corner cleared off the line. Miller had a good run and shot which Alnwick saved to his right. Maghoma saw his effort tipped over by Stech. Taarabt drove wide before Alnwick saved from Harvey before Jeffery headed over. Alnwick saved from Stanislas following a corner and Stech dropped Hutton’s corner but recovered to grab the ball.

Jeffery put the ball into the net for West Ham, but was ruled out for offside. Taarabt dribbled passed Edgar only to be pulled down by the Irons scorer. The ref played advantage to allow Oyenuga to blast over before booking Edgar. Taarabt had another strike on target which the keeper saved. Miller fired over as the half ended.

Rocha took a knock during the first half and was replaced by Caulker for the second with Taarabt taking the captains armband.

The home side made a change minutes into the half when they had won a free kick. When the kick was taken Fry headed against the post. Jeffery was so wide his shot almost went for a throw. Stech saved from Maghoma before an injury to Berchiche saw Cox come on at right back with Mtandari moving inside.

Alnwick saved from Jeffery and Hines fired over before Hutton saw his effort saved. Byrne came on for Oyenuga starting on the right side with Hutton moving up front. Hines got behind the defence for a one on one chance which Alnwick won and saw Kearns' attempt go wide a minute later.

Taarabt then put Spurs in front with a repeat of his first goal picking up the ball in the centre circle and running at the Hammers' defence to the edge of the area before making an opening for his low drive.

Hutton had a chance which he drove over before they dropped off to protect the lead. As time was running out Alnwick saved from Bajner as the home side looked for a goal. In stoppage time Maghoma played a good ball into the right side of the area for Hutton who was tripped by McNaughton as he went past for a penalty. Taarabt took the kick sending the keeper the wrong way to complete his hat-trick.

The Reserves did the "double" over the Hammers in an enteraining match which was played with a lot of academy players on the pitch, which no doubt helped. The next game is on the 9th March at Brisbane road when the visitors will be Fulham. This was a first outing for some of the Academy lads as more experienced players are being held back for Thursday’s UEFA game at the Lane.

Ray