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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 2nd March 2013, 11am
SPURS v WEST HAM
(All White) (All Blue)
4-3-3 4-4-1-1
3(1) 0(0)
Luke McGee 1 Sam Baxter
Alex McQueen 2 Cheye Alexander
Connor Ogilvie 3 Lewis Page
Filip Lesniak(C) 4 Ben Marlow
Dominic Ball 5 Reece Burke
Aaron McEneff 6 Manny Onaraise
Emmanuel Sonupe 7 Gerry Amoo
Harry Winks 8 Taylor Miles(C)
Daniel Akindayini 9 Mario Martins
Ruben Lameiras 10 Kieran Sadler
Nathan Oduwa 11 Nathan Mavila
Kane Vincent-Young 12 Moses Makasi(?)
Liam Priestley 13 Sam Howes
William Miller 14 Mama Boakye-Yiadom
(15)59Mins. (9)59Mins.
Roman Michael-Percil 15 Rob Gridlestone
(7)16Mins. (8)75Mins.
Darren McQueen 16 Courtney Homans
(9)75Mins.
Scorers:-
Oduwa 22
Lameiras 72
D. McQueen 86
Booked:-
Alexander 54(Foul)
Coach:-
P. Brush S. Potts
Referee:- D. Lawson
It was a chilly morning for this the visit of West Ham. It was the third meeting between the two sides in two months. Spurs had started the second phase with a trip to Little Heath in which they lost a close game 1-0. Both sides had been under strength due to the 4th round Youth Cup tie at the Boleyn ground which Spurs won 5-2.
Spurs lined up with Ball and McEneff at the back in front of McGee with McQueen at right back and Ogivie on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Lameiras and Winks while a young front line was led by Akindayini with Sonupe on his right and Oduwa on his left.
Spurs defended the east end in the first half. The game took a while to settle down as the visitors dropped into a defensive formation looking to hold and break when the opportunity occurred. The Spurs' midfield were closed down quickly and the forwards squeezed to deny them space.
It took a while but gradually Spurs began to exert pressure on the visitors with Oduwa getting down the left. Sonupe took an early knock going for a through ball on the right from Page and had to be replaced by Michael-Percil. Michael-Percil has great pace and he stretched the Hammers down the right. Akindayini saw his drive deflected wide of the far post for a corner during a spell when Baxter fluffed at two crosses. From the second Spurs took a short corner on the left side to Michael-Percil who put in a centre that dropped into the six yard box via a West Ham head and in the scramble Oduwa poked it in. Oduwa followed this with a run into the area finishing with a dipping effort that dropped onto the crossbar.
Martins got past Ball down the left and his cross was met by Sadler who fired wide. Akindayini had a chance that Baxter saved before Michael-Percil run onto a lovely through ball from Winks but drove wide. Page got down the left and his cross finally found Martins to the right of the goal but McGee was out quickly to save.
From a West Ham corner Ogilvie broke away and had a three on two situation but was fouled by Alexander before he could release the ball. Another short corner saw Michael-Percil square the ball for McQueen to drive in an effort that the keeper saved. As the half neared its end, Oduwa got round the back on the left and pulled the ball back for Akindayini who could only turn it wide.
There were no changes for the second half which was delayed due to one of the assistant referees having a problem. Once under way Spurs were soon putting pressure on the visitors with Winks' volley hitting the foot of the post and getting turned out for a corner. From the corner Ball saw his header saved at the far post.
Oduwa continued to have a good game firing over before being taken out by Alexander from behind to earn the full back a booking. Michael-Percil ran onto another through ball and looked to be on for a shot until he was fouled by Oniraise. Lameiras took the free kick which was half-blocked, much to the disappointment of his mother standing next to me.
Both sides made a change with the visitors replacing their lone front man and Spurs replacing one sub for another as Michael-Percil was replaced by Miller.
Oduwa had another effort that he fired wide, before he turned up in the area for a chance that was blocked. Akindayini got to the rebound only to see his effort cleared off the line for a corner. Lameiras found Akindayini with the corner but again his effort was blocked.
Spurs finally got that second goal when Lameiras drove low from the edge of the area into the right corner. Oduwa drew a save from Baxter who also saved from Winks at the expense of a corner. Before the corner was taken Akindayini made way for Darren McQueen. Winks fired well over and Lameiras saw his effort deflected wide for a corner.
Spurs increased their lead when a quickly taken free kick in the centre circle caught West Ham out and left Darren McQueen with a clear run at goal. The striker went round the keeper to slot in. I have to say that the assistant on the far side was caught out of position as well when the kick was taken as McQueen was at least a yard offside.
Miller, having switched to the left, cut the ball back for Lameiras to drive wide. The last chance fell to the Hammers when Sadler's free kick was headed on by Boakye-Yidom for Burke to head wide at the far post.
The game should have been over by half-time due to the chances that Spurs created against an unadventurous West Ham. Oduwa looked to be trying a little to hard to impress and Akindayini did not look quite ready for this level. Both players have looked good in games before today but Oduwa worked hard to make space for himself while Akindayini looked just off the pace. Once the midfield began to gel they were playing some pretty good defence-splitting balls for the front three which were not capitalised upon as I would have liked to see.
The win sees Spurs move to the top of the group on goal difference over Wolves and Sunderland after the Black Cats beat Wolves 5-3. Next saturday morning the Academy team will be at Wolves for a top of the table match.
Ray
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