Premier Academy League, Intergroup
        Spurs Lodge, Chigwell, Essex.
     Saturday 15th January 2011, 11am k.o.

          SPURS      v       READING 

      (White/Blue)          (All Blue)
          4-4-2               4-4-2

          3(0)                2(1) 

       Jordan Archer 1 Dean Santangelo
       Jack Barthram 2 Nick Arnold
       Kevin Stewart 3 Carl McHugh
      Ronnie Hawkins 4 Lawson D'Ath
   Olumide Durojaiye 5 Angus MacDonald(C)
       Ramil Sheriff 6 Matt Partridge
    Laste Dombaxe(C) 7 Dan Carr
      Callum Tapping 8 Josh Webb
       Kudus Oyenuga 9 Romaine Walker
         Jack Munns 10 Craig Tanner
     Alex Pritchard 11 Jordan Obita

          Lee Angol 12 Domnick Samuel
        (16)81Mins.    (9)55Mins.
     Jonathon Miles 13 Jake Cooper
       James Yeboah 14 Trevor Mutero
         Daniel Day 15 Warren Morgan
         (2)70Mins.    (7)83Mins.
       Paul McBride 16 Arron Tijhbola
         (4)46Mins.    (8)55Mins.

Scorers:-
         McBride 49    Webb 31pen
     Oyenuga 63, 69    Tijhbola 57

Booked:-
         Stewart 89    Obita 43
  (Kicked ball away)   (Kicked ball away)

Coach:-
      A. Inglethorpe   D. Dodds

Ref:- A. Degnarain

Spurs lined up with Durojaiye and Sheriff at the back with Barthram on the right and Stewart on the left. Hawkins came into the centre of midfield alongside Tapping with Dombaxe moving to the right wing and Munns on the left. Pritchard supported Oyenuga up front.

Reading kicked off attacking the North goal with the wind behind them and had most of the early chances while Spurs showed some good approach play but, as last week, the final ball was lacking.

Tanner was the first to show with an effort that flew over. Carr drew a save from Archer which was followed by saves from D'Ath and Obita. Barthram cleared a Tanner shot off the line before a free kick from Obita went wide. Obita drove the ball in from the left which was deflected for a corner. MacDonald headed wide from Tanner's corner. Durujaiye under hit a square ball to Sheriff which was intercepted by Walker who raced into the area pursued by Sheriff who tripped him as he attempted to round Archer. The resultant penalty was driven to Archer's right as he went the wrong way.

Spurs responded well with a Dombaxe run down the right channel ending in a drive that Santangelo saved. Durujaiye saw his header saved from a corner. With all the players in the Reading half, a clearance found Tanner breaking from the halfway line and drive forward to the edge of the area before passing inside to Walker whose effort was saved. A good run down the right by Dombaxe resulted in Pritchard putting the ball in at the far post, unfortunately the linesman waved for offside. Obita was shown a yellow for kicking the ball away after the Royals had conceded a free kick with Spurs pushing hard.

Hawkins was replaced at the interval by McBride who had a instant impact as he helped with the build-up of an attack down the left. When the ball came into the area Oyenuga drove it against the crossbar and McBride slid in at the near post to turn it into the net for the equaliser.

Archer had to make a save before Pritchard saw his long range effort turned over for a corner. Reading made two changes as they pushed forward with MacDonald heading wide from a free kick. Tijhbota intercepted a pass out of defence and strolled forward to beat Archer with a low drive to put the visitors back in front. The lead only lasted five minutes as a run down the right by Dombaxe was finished with a lovely centre that Oyenuga guided into the net with his head.

Oyenuga fired wide from a cross by McBride and soon after Pritchard also drove wide. Oyenuga then picked up the ball in the left channel and dribbled into the area past two defenders before drawing the keeper and slotting it into the net to complete the turnaround.

Barthram was caught by the arm of Obita jumping for the ball. He was quickly up only to collapse moments later. After he was replaced by Day the physio started to lead him back to the dressing room when he collapsed again. Hopefully he will be alright as he is a strong presence on the right. Stewart moved to the right so the Day could play on the left. McBride struck the crossbar from 12 yards, with Dombaxe hitting the rebound over. McBride was slow getting up and had to go off soon after with Angol taking his place.

Reading pushed forward in search of an equaliser and McHugh drove wide. As Spurs looked to close out the game the ref warned Archer for time-wasting and booked Stewart for kicking the ball away to delay a free kick, but the much needed points went to Spurs.

This was a hard fought victory where after a slow start Spurs began to play the ball around to avoid the close attentions of the visitors and create chances. It was over half an hour before the first chance but on at least three occasions before that they were a whisper away from a goal. They were much more sharper than last week although the goals conceded were from their own mistakes. My main concern is for the condiction of Jack Barthram.

Next saturday the Academy are away at Cardiff City where they will be playing in the Sports Stadium. This as we have all heard recently means the fans are along way from the pitch. I must remember to take my binoculars.

Ray