Premier Academy League, Inter-group
      Ipswich Town Training Centre,
              Playford Rd.

      Saturday 30th April 2011, 11am

      IPSWICH TOWN   v   SPURS
      (Blue/White)     (White/Blue)

         4-4-2           4-4-2

          1(0)            2(2)

       Cody Cropper  1 Jordan Archer
     Callum Bennett  2 Alex McQueen
      David October  3 Daniel Day
        Aaron Jones  4 Massimo Luongo
      Josh Meekings  5 James Yeboah
    Elliot Scotcher  6 Kevin Stewart
       Cormac Burke  7 Jack Munns(C)
        Lewis Acott  8 Callum Tapping
      Caolan Lavery  9 Shaquille Coulthirst
       Rory McKeown 10 Victor Zapata
      Carel Tiofack 11 Ruben Lamires

         Tom Winter 12 Freddy Champion
        (11)65Mins.
    Conor O'Donnell 13 Jonathon Miles
      Jack Marriott 14 Saul Williams
        (10)65Mins.    (11)65Mins.
       Jack Simmons 15 William Ekong
     Byron Lawrence 16 Kenneth McEvoy 

Scorers:-
          Lavery 74    Luongo 4
                       Coulthirst 36 

Booked:-
   Bennett 56(Late)    Yeboah 82(UGC)
   Meekings 82(UGC) 

Coach:-
           M. Pejic    A. Inglethorpe

Referee:- L. Betts

Spurs lined up with Yeboah alongside Stewart at the back with McQueen at right back and Day on the left. Luongo and Tapping were in the centre of midfield with Munns on the right flank and Lamires on the left. Zapata made his first start for the U-18s supporting Coulthirst up front.

Spurs defended the north end in the first half and did not look to have a hangover from the recent tournament failure in Switzerland. The home defence while strong in the air was turned too easily by balls played on the ground through to the raiding forwards. Spurs were in front within five minutes when the Ipswich defence failed to clear an attack and Luongo received the ball on the edge of the area and smashed the ball into the net.

Coulthirst got through again and was tackled just as he was pulling the trigger. From the resultant corner Munns played the ball into the near post where Stewart headed in on for Coulthirst to head just over the bar. Burke was causing trouble down the right and had an effort that flew wide. Zapata was played through but took too long to shoot and was tackled as he attempted to get his shot off.

Bennett was getting the better of Lamires down the right and he got forward to lay the ball into the path of Lavery who fired wide. Cropper saved at his near post from Coulthirst at the expense of a corner. Archer made a great save to tip over a vicious dipping volley from Lavery that was dropping under the bar. Luongo played in Zapata but his effort was wide. When the ball was half cleared Jones struck a fierce shot that Archer pushed around the post at full stretch.

Lamires turned the defence with a lovely through ball that Zapata moved on to Coulthirst to allow him to beat the keeper with a low drive from the left. Luongo was the best player through most of the game but he does make the rare mistake. He lifted the ball back to Archer from some way out and the keeper could only head the ball forward straight to the lurking Lavery who blasted wide.

Spurs started the second half much the same way as they finished the first passing their way through and around the Ipswich defence with Coulthirst firing wide. Bennett made a raid down the right and lost the ball to a combination of Lamires and Day and lunged at Day catching him high on the leg to receive the first booking of the game. Munns saw his effort saved before Ipswich had a good chance of a goal when Lavery drove a cross in from the left that McKeown failed to reach.

Inglethorpe must have felt that we had the game under control as he sent on Williams for his first taste of senior football replacing Lamires. The home side also made two changes at the same time and started to push forward more. Munns sent McQueen away down the right and he strode into the area but lifted his shot over the bar. Spurs began to play the ball around thinking the game was won which is always a mistake at this level.

Bennett put in a cross to the far post that was going out of play but Archer guided it out to concede a corner. It could have been a costly mistake if Lavery had not headed over from the corner. The home side did score soon after when the referee gave a free kick 25 yards out in a fairly central position. Lavery curled the kick around the wall and in off the right post.

The goal put confidence in the Ipswich side and they went looking for the equaliser. Burke fired over and then Yeboah conceded a free kick near the halfway line and tried to delay it by moving away with the ball. He got into a tussle with a couple of Town players that led to a lot of pushing and shoving by an increasing group of players. The referee booked Yeboah and one of the Ipswich players before continuing the game.

Archer saved from Bennett and then made another great save from Lavery who had received the ball near the right touchline and whipped in a curling volley that almost dropped behind him. The one handed save at full length was a match winner. As Ipswich pushed for a goal they did leave space at the back and Zapata forced a save from Cropper. Good work down the right flank resulted in a cross by McQueen that found Coulthirst coming in at the far post. Coulthirst was stretching but got underneath the ball to lift it over the bar from about 5 yards. Going into added time Ipswich had one more chance from a corner that Meekings rose unmarked at the far post and headed back across the goalmouth. Coulthirst fired wide just before the final whistle.

This was a good result, despite the close margin, as the team had much the better of the play and looked comfortable for long periods of the game. Ipswich were stronger in the air but could not handle the quick passing and being turned. Spurs could have been four goals ahead by the turnaround. Ipswich's main threat came from the fast wing play of Burke and the shooting of Lavery. Luongo was at the heart of most of Spurs play with an all round performance. Special mention today should go to Archer for his three classy saves that made sure we left with the three points.

With Reading losing today Spurs move up the 4th in Group B. Spurs last game of the season is the rearranged fixture against current Group leaders Leicester City at Spurs Lodge. Leicester lost today at Group A champions Fulham 5-2 and will be overtaken if Villa won. Our game against Leicester kicks off at 1pm on wednesday 4th May.

Ray