Premier Academy League
         Spurs Lodge, Chigwell, Essex
        Saturday 6th March 2010, 12am

         SPURS     v   LEICESTER CITY
     (White/Blue)       (Blue/White)

         4-4-2             4-4-2

          1(0)              1(1)

     Jamie Butler  1 Robert Ambrusis
     Nathan Byrne  2 Oliver Norburn
          Sam Cox  3 George Taft
   Jake Nicholson  4 Ben Milnes
  Calum Butcher(C) 5 Cian Bolger(C)
Olumude Durojaiye  6 Liam Moore
      Tom Carroll  7 Jorrin John
     Dean Parrett  8 Nathan Hicks
    Kudus Oyenuga  9 Elliott Chamberlain
 Paul-Jose M’Poku 10 Adi Yussuf
     Paul McBride 11 Robbie Burns

    Jordan Archer 12 Shayne Byrne
    Zaine 
    Francis-Angol 13 Ray Gill
    Jesse 
    Waller-Lassen 14 Ellis Tebbutt
      (11)46Mins.
   Alex Pritchard 15 Kevin Knight
  Anton Blackwood 16 Claudio Hogan

Coache:-
    A.Inglethorpe    S.Beaglehole

Scorers:-
       Carroll 66    Burns 27 

Booked:-
 Waller-Lassen 79    Moore 67(Trip) 
     Cox 84(Foul)    Hicks 90+4
                     (Obstruction) 

Referee:- I.Rathbone

Spurs lined up with Butler in goal and Butcher and Durojaiye in front of him, Byrne was at right back and Cox on the left. Parrett came into the centre of midfield alongside Nicholson with Carroll on the right side and McBride on the left. M'Poku supported Oyenuga up front.

Spurs defended the North goal in the first half as the visitors looked to show why they are unbeaten. Chamberlain hooked the ball over before John drew a save from Butler. Carroll played in Oyenuga but his effort was saved for a corner and Carroll also fired wide.

The Foxes came with a big side and used their weight well when challenging for the ball, closing down quickly and releasing the forwards to run at the Spurs back line. Chamberlain used his pace to get down the channels well drawing some last ditch tackles as the visitors looked the most likely to break the deadlock. After Chamberlain shot over M'Poku played a lovely ball into McBride who fired over. Leicester broke quickly and Yussef headed the ball down for Burns to volley home and take the lead.

Spurs were finding it hard to create chances playing a little too narrow but when it went wide they looked to find some space and Carroll used it to find M'Poku inside but his effort went over. The next attack by the visitors saw the ball headed forward and put in but it was ruled out for offside. Bolger headed down a free kick in the area for Yussef who fired over from a good position. I could hear the captain asking how he missed as they came off at half time.

Inglethorpe made one change for the second half replacing McBride with Waller-Lassen who had caused Leicester a lot of problems on the right wing in the reverse fixture. Jesse went to the right side with M'Poku moving to the left and Carroll coming inside to support Oyenuga. After some good work at the start of the half Spurs looked to be getting the better of the play but unforced errors allowed the visitors to threaten with Hilnes firing over and Yussef going wide.

Oyenuga headed wide from a corner before another break saw Cahamberlain hit a post. Butler saved a Taft header from a corner despite being impeded so that when the ball was forced in by Leicester player it was not allowed by the ref. A quick throw-in on the left allowed M'Poku to get away and when he pulled the ball back Carroll fired in on the turn to level the score.

The visitors had started to sit back looking to pick Spurs off and responded by pushing forward again looking for another goal. With both sides looking to go forward defenders began to look a little exposed which led to more risky challenges and free kicks conceded as well as yellow cards from the ref. First in the book was Milnes for a late tackle as Parrett was getting away from him. M'Poku fired well over from a free kick and Butler saved from Burns. Bolger headed over from a free kick before Waller-Lassen fired wide. Waller-Lassen was booked chasing a through ball that the keeper got to first. Yussef saw his effort fly wide before Cox was booked stopping another quick break.

Despite increased the pressure upon the Foxes, John fired over and with time running out Hicks was booked following a flare-up when the visitors stopped Spurs taking a free kick quickly by holding onto the ball. Oyenuga was taunted and had to be held back by team mates as he lost his cool. They did their job as the ref blew time a minute later.

It turned out to be a good point for Spurs from a game that they could have lost. Leicester remain 6 points clear with a game in hand and look to have secured top spot in the group with today's result. The visitors looked stronger than in the earlier game that they won 4-2 and I was disappointed that we did not use the wings as well as we did in that game. The quick passing game that is so much of Spurs play was lacking today which was not all down to the visitors hard work and probably showed that the pressure was more on Spurs than Leicester.

Ray

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