Premier Academy League, Intergroup
           Spurs Lodge, Chigwell, Essex.
         Saturday 26th March 2011, 11am k.o.

             SPURS      v     ARSENAL 
         (White/Blue)       (Red/White)
             4-4-2             4-4-2

              1(0)              0(0) 

         Jordan Archer  1 Reice Charles-Cook
        Callum Tapping  2 Sead Hajrovic
         Jack Barthram  3 Jernade Meade
         Laste Dombaxe  4 Jamie Edge
     Olumide Durojaiye  5 Elton Monterio
         Kevin Stewart  6 Daniel Boateng(C)
          Jack Munns(C) 7 Jordan Wynter
        Ronnie Hawkins  8 Kyle Ebecilio
         Kudus Oyenuga  9 Zac Ansah
             Lee Angol 10 Jeffrey Monakana
          Paul McBride 11 Alban Bunjaku

   Jesse Waller-Lassen 12 Josh Rees
             (8)60Mins.   (5)73Mins.
        Jonathon Miles 13 Josh Vickers
          Alex McQueen 14 Issac Hayden
              (4)9Mins.
          James Yeboah 15 Chuba Akpom
                          (10)73Mins.
       Freddy Champion 16 Jack Jebb
            (10)83Mins.   (4)73Mins.

Scorers:-
             Tapping 75 

Booked:-
                          Ebecilio 75(Late)

Coach:-
         A. Inglethorpe   S. Bould

Referee:-  L. Narshallsay

Spurs lined up with Stewart alongside Durojaiye at the back with Tapping on the right and Barthram at left back. Hawkins came in alongside Dombaxe in the centre of midfield with Munns on the right flank and McBride on the left. Due to Pritchard's injury Angol started in support of Oyenuga up front.

Spurs kicked off attacking the South end in the first half but neither side found any rhythm and the play stayed mainly in the middle. Dombaxe injured himself making a tackle very early and had to come off having been unable to run it off. His replacement was McQueen who took up the right wing role with Munns coming into the middle. This was not a slick passing gooner side, and they relied more on their physical presence to win and keep the ball. The only goal-mouth incident in the opening twenty minutes was when Charles-Cook failed to hold a corner kick at the first attempt.

Ansah cut inside Barthram to fire wide for the first chance of the game before McQueen chased a loose ball that the keeper could not hold. After the ball was worked free by Angol, young McQueen fired over. The keeper made up for his poor handling by tipping away a low drive by Munns for a corner. Munns took the corner and found McBride unmarked at the far post but his effort was wide. Ebecilio fired wide from the left side before McBride got down the left and crossed low to McQueen coming in on the far side. Having made the ground he could not connect properly with the ball and the chance was gone.

The visitors started the second half strongly with Wynter firing wide. Archer tipped away a low drive from Ebecilo diving full length to his right. From the resulting corner he held a weak header from the same player. Spurs tried a set piece corner routine with Munns' kick to the edge of the area headed towards the far post where McBride mis-hit his volley.

Inglethorpe sent on Waller-Lassen in place of Hawkins to work the right flank with McQueen moving up to support Oyenuga and Angol dropping deeper into midfield. Monakana fired over before Tapping picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area but could only find Charles-Cook with his effort. The keeper also saved a free kick from Munns at the near post.

Archer made another good save from Wynter at the expense of a corner. The gunners should have scored when Bunjaki had the ball unmarked in the area just to the right of goal, but he could not get his shot on target. Just prior to this Oyenuga and Monterio had clashed heads as they came together going for a through ball. Monterio could not shake off the injury and was replaced in a triple substitution by Bould.

The defining point of the game came shortly after as Ebecilio dived in late on Angol to receive a yellow card. From the free kick the ball was headed on into the area where Boateng lost his bearings and headed over his own keeper. He was spared scoring an own goal by Tapping nodding it in from a yard out. Waller-Lassen fired wide just before Munns drove forward and slipped a pass through to Oyenuga who chipped the keeper towards the near post. Unfortunately McQueen was just beaten to the ball in the best move of the game. Monakana put another effort wide before Spurs made their last change bringing Champion on in place of Angol. Archer saved an Ansah header from a corner and Monakana fired wide in the final minute.

This was not a great game as it lacked the slick passing these two sides are known for. Both sides struggled to do anything with the ball. Spurs tried passing but the gunners seemed content to use their physical strength to win and hold the ball. After the first half I thought that the visitors might get the better of us by out-muscling us, but Spurs improved in the second half as did the gunners in footballing terms. Neither side did enough to win the game but Spurs got the good fortune to pick up all the points.

Next week the Academy entertain the MK Dons in a rearranged fixture hoping to continue their run of only one defeat in their last ten matches. A win should see them firmly in fifth place in group B.

Ray

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