|
Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
NI Milk Cup Semi-final match
Castle Rock Mews, Castlerock
Wednesday 25th July 2012, 5pm
SPURS v CSKA MOSCOW
4-1-2-3 4-4-2
(All White) (Red/Blue)
1(0) 2(2)
Spurs:- Priestley, Vincent-Young(C)(Walkes 61), Ogilvie, Lyons-Foster(Harrison 51), Campbell-Young, Pritchard, Goddard(Winks 36), Amos(Magbadelo 65), Miller, Oduwa, Georgiou(Sonupe 51)
Scorer:- Sonupe 70+2
CSKA Moscow:- Okunev, Grishin, Kotov(C), Semenov(19 58), Georgiesky, Gordienko, Yanzin, Mitrofanov, Baklanov, Yusipov(Martusevich 34), Ramzadze(Mashukov 64)
Scorers:- Baklanov 4, Ramzadze 24
Booked:- Baklanov 10(Obstruction), Martusevich 42(Not 10 yds), Kotov 48(Foul)
It was a warm sunny day for the semi-final at Castlerock, but the pitch had patches of boggy ground. Spurs lined up with Campbell-Young and Ogilvie in front of Priestley with Lyons-Foster at right back and Vincent-Young on the left. Pritchard played in front of them just behind Miller and Amos. Goddard played between Georgiou on the right and Oduwa on the left.
Spurs defended the east goal in the first half and found that the Russians defended in two banks of four with the intention of breaking quickly, much as the South Coast Strikers had.
Oduwa appeared on the right side and cut inside to draw a save from Okunev with the ball dropping in front of Georgiou who took two swipes at the ball as it got under his feet without making a clean connection. A long ball out found Baklanov running through the middle and a touch on saw him clean through. He beat Priestley with a low strike into the left corner of the net. The Moscow players had a shoot on site policy whenever the ball came their way with Baklanov firing over and Georgiesky forcing a save. One of their players had a long throw that he used to put Priestley under pressure.
Baklanov was shown a yellow card for obstructing a throw-in as they sought to keep the pressure on and not allow Spurs any space on the ball. Oduwa was forced to shoot from distance but failed to get any power on his effort to trouble the keeper. It was all Moscow as they prevented Spurs getting near their goal. Semenov fired over and Ramzadze drew a save. Martusevich came on and his first touch was an attempted shot. A cross from the left found Ramzadze coming in at the far post with a volley that almost broke the net. Georgiesky fired wide and Gordienko had an effort saved at the end of the half.
Spurs made a change for the start of the second half with Winks replacing Goddard. Almost from the start Spurs lost possession and Georgiesky's shot hit the outside of the left post. Oduwa drew a save as he held off his marker. The referee then booked Martusevich for not retreating 10 yards at a free kick and he was followed into the ref's book by Kotov for a foul on Georgiou.
Inglethorpe made a double substitution with Sonupe replacing Georgiou up front. Harrison came on for Lyons-Foster with Pritchard moving to full back. Gordienko fired wide before another run by Oduwa ended in a save from Okunev. Baklanov fired wide and Gordienko drew two saves from Priestley.
Walkes replaced Vincent-Young at right back and Magbadelo came on for Amos in an attempt to strengthen the defence. Gordienko sent another effort wide while a weak shot from Sonupe was saved. Oduwa made another strong run into the right channel holding off his marker before sliding the ball through for Sonupe to turn past the keeper. Harrison helped it over the line and the referee could have ruled the goal off-side but did not. There was still time for Baklanov to fire wide as comical defending kept giving the ball away.
This was not a good showing from the team. Oduwa used his pace and strength to trouble the Moscow defence and whatever they tried he seemed to ride it out. Georgiou was used mainly on the right where in previous games he did well on the left. Pritchard was not disciplined enough to play in front of the defence where Walkes did such a good job against Otago in the previous game. The full backs were pinned back and the centre backs had to work hard trying to stem the attacks. The midfield was kept under pressure to prevent good passing until Winks came on when his pass and move style gained some space.The standard of passing still needs to improve as Spurs had a hard job getting the ball out of their own half with the ball being given away too often.
Spurs now play Co. Londonderry for third place in the Vase group. The game is to be played at Broughshane on another local council pitch. Desportivo Brasil will face Newcastle in the tournament final.
Ray
Here are Ray's other reports on this tournament:-
Spurs youngsters to take part in the Northern Ireland Milk Cup
Co. Armagh 1 Spurs (U-17s) 1 - Spurs' penalty miss costs two points
Spurs (U-17s) 1 South Coast Strikers 7 - Spurs' lads trounced
Spurs (U-17s) 4 Otago 0- Alex at the helm!
Spurs (U-17s) 2 Co. Londonderry 1 - Spurs boys win their 3rd/4th place final
Ray's reflections on the tournament
Top of page | Back to Youth Team Fixtures Index
|
