A peep at the future - England U-16s 3 N.Ireland U-16s 1 - 12.10.11
It being the International break, and living in Chesterfield, I took the opportunity to walk 20 minutes down the road to the “Spireites” still new “B2Net” Stadium to watch the England v Northern Ireland Victory Shield game for the U-16s.
Some of you may have watched the game on Sky. There is a full report on the game here at The F.A’s Official Site - http://www.thefa.com/England/mens-u16s/News/match-centre/2011/EnglandNI11/report-121011 - but I thought I would offer a few lines, especially as Spurs were represented with two players in the side.
Even our regular reporter, Ray Lo, will have seen very little of these two players. Central Defender Conor Ogilvie (with a name suitable enough for the opposition!) recently played in the Under-18 side that lost away to Coventry on October 1st, when a very young Academy side lost 2-0 (http://www.spursodyssey.com/1112/u18co011011.html). He also played against Aston Villa U-18s on 24th September (http://www.spursodyssey.com/1112/u18av240911.html).Ogilvie looks quite a tall and strong individual, and presumably central defence is his favoured position. He started that recent Spurs game at left-back then moved inside. Conor is left-footed, and played the full 80 minutes (plus added time) of this game. (80 minutes is the standard at this level). Conor certainly saw enough of the ball, although the England defence was not too sorely tested by Northern Ireland. Our man was strong in the tackle, and generally made good defensive decisions, although he did unfortunately gift the opposition their equaliser just before half-time, when he slipped a little and made a short attempted back-pass.
Ogilvie tried plenty of passes to the left flank, some of which paid off, but perhaps after a word from the technical area, he became more steadfast, rather than adventurous in his passing style. Conor was one of the main-stays of his team in a second half which featured numerous substitutions. Having already played for the Spurs Under-18 side, we are no doubt likely to see more of him in the not so distant future.
The other Spurs player was Emmanuel Sonupe, who played on the right wing. Emmanuel didn’t see much of the ball in the first half, as England tended to attack down the left flank prompted by left back Ashley Smith-Brown, who was one of two Manchester City players in the England squad. Smith-Brown had a great game, up and down the line, and as far as the opposition bye-line on a number of occasions, offering threatening crosses. It was Smith-Brown who started the fine flowing move that led to England’s opener after 17 minutes, when Chelsea lad Conor Hunte finished off the move.
Sonupe was given a couple of first half chances, but the ball didn’t quite run for him. On another occasion he was strong in running through what was a strong and unfair challenge by the Northern Ireland left back. Emmanuel would also take up central positions, from where he had a great chance early in the second half, which was blocked for a corner. Emmanuel was substituted after 56 minutes.
Chelsea were well represented with three starters, including the Captain – Ruben Loftus-Cheek – who is a tall, strong-running midfielder, who had more and more influence in the second half. The other Chelsea lads were the scorer of the first goal – Hunte, and central defender Aaron Hayden. There was an Arsenal player in the squad, who was a second half substitute – Jordan Brown.
The England set up is not all about players from fashionable “big clubs” though. There was a local hero in the number 10 shirt, Mason Bennett. Mason is on the books of Derby County, and comes from Shirebrook on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border. Mason not only gave the final pass for Hunte’s goal, but also scored two goals early in the second half, for which his team-mates also deserve credit for some fine supply. Mason looked about 5ft 8-9 ins tall, physically strong with great balance and plenty of skill to go with it! Half his school must have been in the 4,126 crowd!
Another player worthy of mention is the diminutive (bet he gets fed up with that description) Aston Villa midfielder, Dan Crowley. Dan showed some deft skills with a feint here, and plenty of passing play there, both in the sense of passing his opponents, and passing to his colleagues.
I haven’t mentioned the whole team by name, and to be honest, without a formal team-sheet it is difficult to always put names to shirt numbers. However, it was a good night’s football, and a credit to all those who took part. The programme made mention of a number of famous names who started their careers at this level, including Wayne Rooney, James Milner and our own Tom Huddlestone (then a Derby player of course). I am sure that most of the players in England’s team tonight will find a path in professional football, and that we will see many of them at the top level.
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