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Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
Premier Academy League, Group B
Spurs Lodge, Chigwell, Essex.
Saturday 5th March 2011, 11am k.o.
SPURS v WATFORD
(White/Blue) (Yellow/Black)
4-4-2 4-4-2
3(2) 2(0)
Jordan Archer 1 Jonathan Bond
Jack Barthram 2 Matt Bevans
Kevin Stewart 3 Aaron Tumwa
Massimo Luongo 4 Adam Fenwick
Ramil Sheriff 5 Tommie Hoban
Zane Francis-Angol 6 Stephane Hamilton
Jack Munns(C) 7 Britt Assombalonga
Laste Dombaxe 8 Connor Smith
Kudus Oyenuga 9 Gavin Massey
Alex Pritchard 10 Bernard Mensah
Paul McBride 11 Oliver Archer
Lee Angol 12 Brandon Horner
(11)62Mins.
Jonathon Miles 13 Jack Bonham
Callum Tapping 14 Faisal Hemati
(3)46Mins.
Freddie Champion 15 Gregory Deer
William Ekong 16 Mohamad Bettamer
(11)51Mins.
Scorers:-
McBride 20 Assombalonga 60
Oyenuga 33 Massey 80
Pritchard 88
Booked:-
Bevans 72(Late)
Smith 76(Late)
Coach:-
A. Inglethorpe J. McBride
Referee:- L. Forrester
It was a chilly morning for this morning's game but there was still a good sized crowd in attendance. With an unbeaten run of four games, Spurs took on the third placed team in the group on a roll.
Spurs lined up with Francis-Angol coming in to partner Sheriff at the back with Barthram on the right and Stewart on the left. Dombaxe started alongside Luongo in the centre of midfield with Munns on the right flank and McBride on the left. Prichard supported Oyenuga up front.
Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the South end and showed good passing play to work their way up-field ending in a good cross. Loungo had the first attempt with a volley that was deflected for a corner. Pritchard played the ball to the near post for Dombaxe to flick on with his head but Bond reacted well to push the effort out.
Massey got down the right and crossed to the near post for Mensah to head across the keeper. Archer was moving to the near post and was able to react quickly to push the ball away with his right hand for a corner. The "Hornets" are a big physical side that close down quickly to give little time for opponents to dwell on the ball. Spurs were just a little bit quicker as well as being able to take advantage of their opponents' lack of close control to turn over the ball. As with Bristol the week before, Watford have a well drilled defence that maintains its shape well.
Sheriff carried the ball out of defence and gave it to Pritchard who took it into the opponents' half before threading a diagonal pass to McBride in space. McBride finished with a low drive across the keeper to open the scoring. Shortly after, Munns repeated what Pritchard did but this time McBride fired over. Pritchard had a go himself but fired over from 20 yards. After good work down the right Barthram put in a long cross from the bye-line and Oyenuga got in front of his marker to stoop and head home to increase the lead. This allowed the home side to have the confidence to pass the ball around more in tighter situations.
Massey got down the right and his cross was met at the far post by Archer. Jordan Archer got across to block his volley with an outstretched boot to deny his namesake a goal.
Francis-Angol was replaced by Tapping for the second half. Tapping took up position at left back with Stewart coming inside to partner Sheriff. Spurs kicked off the second half looking to maintain their passing game but Watford were more determined. Archer fired wide early on but was replaced by Bettamer who joined Massey up front. Pritchard repeated his corner routine to Dombaxe at the near post with the keeper again saving the flick on. Watford had a right side corner that Archer failed to gather, dropping the ball. It was quickly lifted goalwards but Munns cleared off the line.
Bettamer was out on the left touch line, and played a long ball into the area. As Archer and Barthram left it for each other, Assombalonga nipped in to slot home. Spurs responded with an Oyenuga effort turned wide for a corner. From the corner Oyenuga teed up Pritchard but his drive was saved by Bond. Oyenuga had another effort deflected for a corner before Inglethorpe replaced McBride with Angol.
Bevans was booked for what looked like a dangerous two-footed tackle. Massey saw his effort saved by Archer before a second Watford player was booked for a late tackle on Dombaxe. Watford were now beginning to open up the game and Smith fired wide. Good work by Bettamer set up Massey to equalize for the visitors.
The game became more end to end as both sides looked for a winner. There was good work on the left by Oyenuga to play in Pritchard, who drove wide. Assombaloga crossed for Bettamer who fired over. With time running out Oyenuga made another good run down the left, weaved in along the line and saw his effort hit the near post. Luckily Pritchard was on hand to turn the rebound in for the winner. Despite the referee indicating he was keeping a note of all added time, he blew the whistle on the 90 minute mark without adding any time at all.
This was a good win against high-riding opponents and shows that the team is improving. It was the third straight win in a run of seven group games unbeaten. We are still in the bottom half of the table but things are looking better with the team as a whole performing better.
Next week the Academy go to Fulham in the first of a number of inter-group matches. Fulham recently beat the gooners 3-1 in their group and currently sit mid-table. If you want to go to this game it is held at their training ground in Motspur Park. You will need to let them know you want to go as they are controlling access to the ground.
Ray
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