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Celebratory Stadium Opening
Queen Elizabeth Stadium,
Donkey Lane, Enfield
Wednesday 16th November 2011, 7.30pm
ENFIELD TOWN v SPURS XI
(White/Blue) (All Black)
4-4-2 4-4-2
2(0) 1(0)
Matt Davis 1 Jonathan Miles
Jordan Lockie 2 Ryan Fredricks
Jay Siva 3 John Bostock
Dave Kendall 4 Massimo Luongo
Mark Kirby 5 James Yeboah
Rudi Hall 6 Kevin Stewart
Adam Wallace 7 Christan Ceballos
Jon Moore 8 Dean Parrett
Liam Hope 9 Jonathan Obika
10 Yago Falque
11 Andros Townsend
Michael Ewang 12 Alex Pritchard
(5)46Mins.
13 Billy Granger
14 Daniel Day
(9)55Mins.
15 Ronnie Hawkins
(7)74Mins
Scorer:-
Ewang 63 Obika 51
Hope 65
Coach:-
S. Newing T. Sherwood
Attendance:- 969
Referee:- M. Ives
Assistants:- R. Smith, H. Ives
Fourth Official:- N. Rider
It was a chilly evening in Enfield for this friendly fixture where Tim Sherwood brought a young side for this inaugural match at the new home of Enfield Town FC of the Ryman League. There was no teamsheet and I had difficulty in hearing the announcer as the sound kept cutting out. Spurs had a short subs bench while the home side used quite a few subs, some had no numbers on their backs which helped a lot. To add to that there was a running track around the pitch to give it that West Ham feeling.
Spurs lined up with Yeboah and Stewart at the back with Fredricks at right back and Bostock on the left. Parrett and Luongo started in the centre of midfield with Ceballos on the right flank and Townsend on the left. Falque supported Obika up front.
After a minute's silence for an Enfield club official Spurs kicked off attacking the west end with pace and quick passing. Some strong defending and long balls kept the Spurs defenders on their toes. Moore fired wide before Ceballos drove over. After Town had a free kick fly over Miles' goal, Fredricks got down the right before putting his effort wide. Luongo centred for Obika to drive wide and Falque saw his free kick saved by Davis. Wallace had a chance that he pulled wide before first Obika, and then Falque saw their efforts saved by Davis who also saved from Townsend at the expense of a corner.
Parrett was next to be denied when his powerful drive came back off the crossbar out to Falque who fired over. The busy Davis saved from Ceballos who got on the end of a Townsend cross. Moore got through to hit his effort over the bar before Luongo did the same at the other end. Hope had an effort go wide either side of Ceballos testing the keeper. Ceballos then set up Falque for a shot that was saved just before the end of the half.
Pritchard came on for the second half in place of Yeboah to play in the centre of mifield with Luongo dropping into the back four. Enfield began to push forward more and open up the game a little which also helped the approach play of Spurs as first Ceballos fired over and then Parrett drove wide. Ceballos found Obika in space on the edge of the area and the young striker beat Davis with an effort that went in off the left-hand post. Kirby was left on the ground in the build up to the goal after challenging Obika which caused one of the Town players to criticise the referee for not stopping play “as it was a friendly”.
Townsend saw his effort fly wide as did Falque after him. Sherwood then replaced Obika with Day who went into the centre of defence to allow Luongo to move back into midfield. Enfield began to push more players forward and close down Spurs in midfield as they went in search of an equaliser.
Kirby headed over from a corner to show that he was going to be a threat at set pieces. Sure enough from another corner Kirby headed the ball back across goal and Ewang got to it first to score and get the fans cheering. When Fredericks conceded a free kick near the corner it was Kirby who met the ball at the far post and headed it back for Hope to score in the centre of the goal.
The home side now had the momentum with Moore firing wide. After a flurry of substitutions by the home side, Spurs tried to get forward but often the final ball was intercepted. Parrett for the second time crashed a drive against the crossbar. Hawkins came on in place of Ceballos in the middle of the park. Pritchard played a one-two with Parrett on the edge of the area but put his effort wide. Davis had to save Hawkins' long range effort as Spurs kept trying. The referee blew the final whistle after exactly 45 minutes to ensure a home victory.
Spurs played with plenty of pace but some players tried to be a little too cute in some of their play which tended not to come off against an honest non-league outfit. Both full backs and Stewart made runs into the opposing half as they looked to stretch the Town defence but for most of the game they stayed tight on the visitors. A little more direct play, with early crosses or passes into players may have been more productive. It was a good work-out for the players anyway and the coaches will always say that the result is not important. I must be the only Spurs fan to see Spurs lose three games in a row this season. Hopefully that sequence will end on Saturday when the U-18's take on Leicester City at Spurs Lodge
Ray
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