Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
Premier Academy League
Forest Academy, Gresham Close, Nottingham
Saturday 30th August 2008, 12am(Noon)
NOTTM FOREST v SPURS
(Red/White) (White/Blue)
4-4-2 4-4-2
1(1) 1(0)
Karl Darlow 1 Oscar Jansson
Jordan Fairclough 2 Adam Smith
Matt Sykes 3 Nathan Byrne
Sean McCashin(C) 4 Yaser Kasim
Aaron Mitchell 5 Calum Butcher
Tony Diagne 6 Steven Caulker(C)
Max Wright 7 David Hutton
Danny Elliott 8 Dean Parrett
Nialle Rodney 9 Jonathan Obika
Adam Newbold 10 Ryan Mason
Reece Staples 11 Andros Townsend
Tim Hopkinson 12 Jamie Butler
Zannetos Mytides 13 Sol Asajile
George Thomson 14 Kudos Onayunga
(11)66Mins. (11)78Mins.
Keiran Freeman 15 Josh Ekim
Karlton Watson 16 Arjet Shehu
Scorers:-
Newbold 9 Hutton 56
Booked:- Parrett 68(Foot up)
Coaches:-
C. Fairclough A. Inglethorpe
Referee:- D. England
Assistants:- D. Brown, M. Steggles
It was a dull overcast and humid morning which was deceptively warm for Spurs' visit to Nottingham. There was a fair sized crowd to watch the second of the North v South matches and despite the later kick off the Forest Academy provided a team sheet of the home side only. As I don’t want to die of boredom I will not wait for the official site to put up a report to see who was in the Spurs side. I hope I have correctly identified our players. I know that a couple of players were on international duty. I have to thank Paul Smith for the early action as I missed the start of the game. I spotted David Pleat who helps out Forest and another spurs connection was their coach – Chris Fairclough - whose son was also in the Forest team.
Spurs lined up with Butcher and Caulker at the back, with Smith at right back and Byrne on the left. Kasim and Parrett were in central midfield with Hutton on the right and Townsend on the left. Mason supported Obika up front.
Spurs attacked the West End and in the first minute after a good short passing move around the half-way line on the left, Andros Townsend took off with the ball on a long diagonal run, aiming for the box. He hit a good low driven effort that was well held by their keeper.
Somewhat against the run of play, Wright crossed from the right and Spurs failed to clear. Newbold slipped the ball inside to Rodney whose shot was tipped wide by Jansson. Spurs failed to defend the corner and Newbold nodded in from short range. Spurs came back well, and dominated possession, putting the Forest goal under increasing pressure.
Hutton made a good pass inside to Obika, whose shot was on target but weak. After Newbold had an effort saved by Janssen it was Townsend who forced Darlow into a good save. With Spurs beginning to put on the pressure, Kasim fired wide. Mason then fired over when it looked easier to score from around the penalty spot. Darlow had to save diving to his left from a Hutton header from a Mason free kick. This was followed by a run by Smith on the right which finished with a curled effort just wide. Forest threatened when Staples fired wide before Townsend put a chance wide and Mason fired over again.
There were no changes for the second half and Spurs continued where they left off with Townsend firing wide. Staples hit his effort over before Spurs pressure finally paid off when Townsend put in a good centre which Hutton met at the far post to equalise. From then on it looked only a matter of time before the visitors pressure would see them go ahead.
Mason had a shot saved and then put another one wide. He then set up Townsend for a chance which was saved. Caulker headed wide from a Mason corner before Jansson saved from Elliott. The ref decided to take a hand by showing a yellow to Parrett when he was beaten to a through ball by the keeper. Newbold then fired a wide before he wrestled Butcher to the ground to be given a free kick by the ref.
Darlow had to make saves from efforts by Butcher and Kasim before Inglethorpe replaced Townsend with Onayunga. Onayunga played up front, whilst jonathan Obika moved to the left side. Having got away with a very late tackle on Smith, Wright saw his free kick saved by Janssen. It was almost non-stop attacking by Spurs. Hutton fire wide and also Parrett put a chance wide.
This was a good performance from Spurs with good approach play let down by some poor finishing. Forest had fielded a tall side and as is the way with lower division sides tried to unsettle Spurs with a physical approach. Not as bad as some sides Spurs play against regularly but the ref certainly seemed to help them. It should have been a comfortable win so Inglethorpe will consider it points dropped. Spurs entertain Ipswich Town next Saturday at the Lodge. Before that the Reserves will open their campaign with a home match against West Brom at Brisbane Road on Monday at 7pm.
Ray
