Premier Academy League, Group B
     UCL Sports ground, Bell Lane, Shenley.
         Wednesday 28th April 2010, 11am

          WATFORD      v        SPURS
       (Yellow/Red)          (All Blue)
           4-4-2                4-4-2

            3(1)                 0(0)

        Jonathan Bond  1 Jordan Archer
           Lee Hodson  2 Nathan Byrne
          Andy Yiadom  3 Callum Tapping
     Kurtney Brooks(C) 4 Jake Nicholson
        Adam Thompson  5 James Yeboah
         Adam Fenwick  6 Oluimide Durojaiye
     Britt Asonbaloni  7 Tom Carroll
            Greg Deer  8 Dean Parrett(C)
          Jake Rosier  9 John Bostock
           Chez Isaac 10 Ryan Mason
            J.P. Kima 11 Kudus Oyenuga

         Billy Gibson 12 Jamie Butler
          (10)62Mins.
                      13 Zaine Francis-Angol
                         (5)49Mins.
                      14 Shaq Coulthurst
                         (10)61Mins.
              Mensah  15 Alex Pritchard
          (11)46Mins.    (11)26Mins.

Scorers:-
              Kima 7 
           Mensah 52
       Asonbaloni 83 

Coaches:-
        M. Warburton     A. Inglethorpe

It was a warm morning with clouds clearing for this re-arranged fixture against the Hornets. With the group won by Leicester on Saturday, coach Inglethorpe decided to experiment a little with the players he could call upon.

Spurs lined up with Yeboah making a first start alongside Durojaiye in front of Archer with Byrne moving to right back with Tapping on the left. Parrett and Nicholson started in the centre of midfield again with Carroll on the right and Oyenuga on the left. Mason came in to support Bostock up front.

Spurs defended the east end in the first half with the home side looking very lively. Bostock had an early effort saved by Bond from Mason's corner before Isaac found himself in a good position but his volley was blocked for a corner. Parrett got forward to drive wide before the home side went ahead. In a crowded area Archer punched a corner out which fell to the feet of Kima who had time to set himself before lifting the ball over everybody into the far side of the goal.

Spurs resonded with Bostock firing wide after Carroll had played him in. Mason then hit his effort over before seeing the keeper save his next one. Isaac drew a save from Archer before Inglethorpe took off Oyenuga for Pritchard. Isaac had another effort saved before Bostock saw his shot saved by Bond. Watford packed the midfield and Spurs got sucked into a midfield duel for possession of the ball which neither side held for long. Bad passing was the main reason for Spurs losing the ball.

Watford made one change for the second half but after an early shot from Carroll that was saved, Inglethorpe took off Yaboh. Francis-Angol came on going to left back with Tapping crossing over to the right back position to allow Byrne to move inside. While they were ajusting to the changes Watford attacked down the left through Rosier giving the substitute Mensah the chance to increase the lead firing home to the right of goal.

Spurs still struggled to get their game flowing but did manage to create openings such as when Mason had his effort saved from Francis-Angol's cross. Bostock had a weak header saved before Spurs made their last change. Coulthurst came on for Mason while Watford replaced one of their strikers. Rosier fired over before Bostock hit his shot wide. Watford were now content to sit deep and look for the break. Brooks saw his effort fly wide before Asonbaloni broke down the right before coming inside to beat Archer with a rising drive into the far corner of the net. Gibson came close to adding to the scoreline when his dipping shot hit the crossbar.

In the end Spurs were well beaten by Watford who seem to have found the way to stifle the opposition. They did it twice against Leicester and today against us. With nothing to play for Spurs did not have that edge to their play and the passing was poor for large parts of the game. Mason looked like he was short of fitness and I believe he came back from Yeovil with an injury which may explain it. I don't know if Yeboah is a trialist or from the U-16's but he did okay but will need time to settle in.

It is not clear if the game on Saturday against Aston Villa at the Lodge is going ahead so I will have to keep my ears to the ground. Likewise the game against Reading scheduled for next Wednesday is in the balance as the Reading players have not returned from the States yet. The only definite game is Chelsea on Monday 10th May – at the moment.

Ray

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