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Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
Premier U-18 League 2012-3, Group 1
Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
Saturday 16th February 2013, 12noon
SPURS v WEST BROM
(Blue/White) (Red/Blue)
4-3-3 4-5-1
4(2) 0(0)
Lawrence Vigouroux 1 Jack Rose
Channing Campbell-Young 2 Josh Ezewelle
Kane Vincent-Young 3 Rees Wedderburn
Filip Lesniak(C) 4 Ryan Pace
Dominic Ball 5 Kyle Howkens
Aaron McEneff 6 Reiss Greenidge
Emmanuel Sonupe 7 Danny Barrow
Harry Winks 8 Reece Hayes
Daniel Akindayini 9 Ged Oldnall
Nathan Oduwa 10 Samir Nabi
Victor Zapata-Caicedo 11 Jack Hallaghan
Mason Bush 12 Shaun Donnellan
Liam Priestley 13 Ethan Ross
(1)29Mins.
Luke Amos 14 Joe Ward
(8)73Mins. (4)46Mins.
Anthony Georgiou 15 Matthew Buchannon
(10)62Mins.
Darren McQueen 16 Tavlion Campbell
(7)68Mins. (9)58Mins.
Scorers:-
Zapata-Caicedo 25, 85, 90
Oduwa 31
Coach:-
J. McDermott J. Shan
Referee:- M. Stevens
It was an overcast cool morning for this top of the table match. West Brom came to Hotspur Way a point better off than Spurs on top of the group. After the Youth Cup match the evening before I expected a much changed side for this game. Three of the subs played and the rest were squad players and other U-16 lads. Most of them I had reported on during the NI U-17 Milk Cup tournament last summer.
Spurs lined up with Ball and McEneff in front of Vigouroux with Campbell-Young at right back and Vincent-Young on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Winks and Oduwa in support of Akindayini up front with Sonupe to his right and Zapata-Caicedo on his left.
Spurs defended the north end in the first half in a quiet opening spell where both sides took time to get a feel for each other. It was a quarter of an hour before the first chance arrived which fell to the home side when a weak effort by Vincent-Young was saved. Just after that, Akindayini also saw a poor attempt saved.
Spurs began to dominate the game with a free kick by Lesniak flying over the bar. Sonupe was getting the better of Wedderburn on the right flank and he got round the back to cross for Akindayini to fire over the bar. The next time Sonupe got round the back his cross found its way to the far post where Zapata-Caicedo turned it in for the opening goal.
The keeper Rose injured his leg and had to be replaced before the game could continue. Soon after the re-start Spurs increased their lead when Oduwa played a one two with Akindayini through the centre and scored low past the keeper.
Zapata-Caicedo got down the left and crossed for Akindayini to turn wide. A short corner to Winks was centred for McEneff to turn wide. The visitors' first chance came when Nabi played the ball through for Oldnall but Vigouroux was out quickly to claim the ball. A free kick by Pace found the head of Oldnall but Vigouroux saved. Nabi had a go from the edge of the area which was saved and the last chance of the half was a free kick taken by Oduwa which was tipped over the bar by Ross for a corner.
The visitors made one change for the second half which began like the first with Vincent-Young getting round the back and firing from a very acute angle and Zapata-Caicedo driving in from the left and firing wide of the far post for a corner. The "Baggies" came out in a more positive mood and went looking for a goal with Ward firing over. Hayes also drove over from a knock back after Barrow got round the back on the right.
Encouraged by this, West Brom sent on Campbell for Oldnall. Barrow was beginning to have an influence on the game and his free kick was headed wide by Greenidge. Spurs replaced Oduwa with Georgiou to work the left flank moving Zapata-Caicedo inside.
Winks released Sonupe down the right and he cut into the area but as he was about to shoot Greenidge made a saving tackle. Barrow played in Hallaghan who drew a save from Vigouroux before Akindayini was played through the middle but fired wide. Sonupe was then replaced by McQueen as Spurs changed to 4-4-2. Barrow drew a save winning a corner which was met by Howkens head and saved by Vigouroux.
Zapata-Caicedo fired wide and then played in Georgiou on the left who cut in to win a corner when Ross saved. Amos came on for Winks in midfield to freshen things up. Campbell forced a save driving to the near post which resulted in him having to have treatment behind the goal before coming back on. His first touch was to receive the ball on the left flank and then fire a long range effort over the bar.
Zapata-Caicedo picked up a loose ball and ran between the two centre-backs and drilled the ball low past the keeper to settle the match. He was not finished because Georgiou played in the overlapping Vincent-Young who got in his cross and Zapata-Caicedo scored with a diving header at the far post for his hat-trick.
This was a good win for Spurs over a poor West Brom side especially when you think how young they were. Sonupe was good on the right and the defence had little problem in containing the visitors' attack. Vigouroux, back from representing Chile in South America, was impressive between the posts. I had expected more from the "Baggies" as they were on top of the group which but they did not threaten until the second half where Barrow stood out for me.
The victory moves Spurs to the top of the group with an improved goal difference. Sunderland and West Ham started the day on the same number of points as Spurs but with an inferior goal difference and meet today up on Wearside. Next Saturday Spurs go to Stoke where I hope Paul Smith will cover the game as I will be covering the U-21 clash with Arsenal at Hotspur Way.(Ed:- Hope to do that Ray!)
Ray
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