|
Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
FA Youth Cup Quarter-Final
White Hart Lane, Tottenham, N17
Thursday 5th March 2009, 7.45pm
SPURS v ARSENAL
(White/Blue) (Red/White)
4-4-2 4-5-1
1(1) 3(0)
Oscar Jansson 1 James Shea
Adam Smith 2 Craig Eastmond
Sam Cox 3 Thomas Cruise
Dean Parrett(C)4 Emmanuel Frimpong
Steven Caulker 5 Kyle Bartley
Calum Butcher 6 Luke Ayling
Paul-Jose M’Poku 7 Sanchez Watt
John Bostock 8 Francis Coquelin
Jonathan Obika 9 Giles Sanu
Ryan Mason 10 Jack Wilshere
Andros Townsend 11 Jay Emmanuel-Thomas
Jamie Butler 12 Rhys Murphy
(4)85Mins.
Nathan Byrne 13 Charlie Mann
Kudos Oyenuga 14 Cedric Elvina
Yaser Kasim 15 Freeman
(7)58Mins
Jake Nicholson 16 Anton Blackwood
Coaches:-
A.Inglethorpe S. Bould
Scorers:-
Obika 5 Bartley 50
Emmanuel-Thomas 90
Murphy 90+1
Booked:-
Parrett 45 Wilshere 28
Cox 77
Attendance:- 19,084
It was a chilly evening in London for this North London Derby that pitted the top team in Group A and the top team in Group B. Because of the opposition a large crowd was attracted to the game and all sides of the ground were opened which resulted in a little crowd trouble at the back of the Paxton Road stand. (Ed:- There was no strict segregation, which allowed pockets of Arsenal fans around the ground, although primarily they did occupy the Park Lane Stand. Also note that the figure given is the official attendance, which I suspect reflects tickets purchased and not necessarily numbers attending. I would estimate the actual attendance at around 10,000)
Spurs lined up in their usual formation with Butcher and Caulker at the back with Smith on the right and Cox on the left. Parrett and Bostock started in the centre of midfield with M’Poku on the right side and Townsend on the left with Mason supporting Obika up front.
Spurs attacked the Park Lane end in the first half but the visitors closed them down in the centre of the park to prevent Spurs putting together their usual flowing game. The gooners looked more up for the fight as they went in quickly with very physical challenges in all areas of the pitch.
Spurs broke out of their half with a long ball to Townsend on the left. His run beat the defender to cross into the six yard box for Obika to slide in front of the keeper to score.
The visitors closed down the midfield and kept the pressure on the home defence. Frimpong fired wide from a corner before going wide again just after. Townsend got down the left but put his effort wide. Obika fired wide before he had a great chance when Mason played a ball over the defence to him but he could not get it on target. Sanu fired over from a corner before Townsend received the ball on the touchline and took off with Wilshere in pursuit. The gooner kept harassing him for twenty yards before the referee finally showed him a yellow card.
The Arsenal pressure was beginning to tell as Jansson saved from Thomas and then Sanu with Wilshere going wide. Bartley started an attack driving from his own half and was on hand to put in a shot that Jansson held. Wilshere again went wide as the visitors looked for the equaliser. Townsend won the ball deep on the right and survived three tackles before delivering the ball to the breaking Parrett. Unfortunately the offside flag was raised and Parrett received a yellow for kicking the ball away. Frimpong fired wide during added on time at the end of the half.
There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Mason fire over a minute in. Arsenal pressure finally told a few minutes later when they won a corner. Up till that time Bostock cut out all the balls delivered to the near post, but this time the ball ricocheted about and went in of the back of Bartley’s head.
The Woolwich exiles had the momentum and Jansson saved from Thomas before seeing Frimpong fire over and saving from Wilshere. Coquelin fired over from Thomas’s free kick. M’Poku went down as Spurs cleared one attack and had to be carried off on a stretcher with Kasim coming on. Bostock moved to the right and Kasim got stuck in in the centre and soon made an impression when he had an attempt from outside the area that went wide. A Mason corner reached Caulker in the box but he could not get power on his header and Shea collected easily.
Watt put his effort over before Mason saw his shot deflected for a corner. Townsend took the corner and Mason drew a save from the keeper. When another attack was broken up the ball was played over the top for Sanu to chase and Cox dived in with a tackle to put the ball into touch. The ref decided that he had caught Sanu and showed him a yellow card. With five minutes left Arsenal sent on another striker in search for the winner. Thomas headed wide at the near post from a corner before finding space on the edge of the area to volley past Jansson in the last minute to take the lead. With Spurs now pushing forward in an attempt to get back into the game Murphy was in space to collect a long ball and had only the keeper to beat to put the game beyond doubt a minute later.
Unfortunately the score did not flatter the gooners as their strong quick playing style was too much for Spurs. They looked a class above our young players and have the physical strength to play reserve level football now. Townsend was the only spurs player that showed his true form tonight and was a threat on either flank. The physical treatment that the gooners meted out is what our players are going to have to get used to if they want to progress and while I think that the referee allowed a lot of the challenges to go unpunished it is what awaits them at the next level. The gooners go on to meet either Manchester City or Norwich in the next round. Spurs have to pick themselves up for Reading away on Saturday afternoon.
Ray
Top of page | Back to Youth Team Fixtures Index
|
