|
Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
FA Youth Cup, Round 3
Abbey Business Stadium, Cheltenham
Tuesday 18th December 2012, 7pm
CHELTENHAM v SPURS
(Red/White) (All Blue)
4-1-4-1 4-3-3
0(0) 1(1)
Dale Reaney 1 Luke McGee
Kieron Thomas 2 Alex McQueen
Elliott Keightley 3 Grant Ward
Adam Powell 4 Milos Veljkovic
Michael Gonzalo(C) 5 Dominic Ball
Spencer Hamilton 6 Connor Ogilvie
Owen Donaghue 7 Roman Michael-Percil
Harry Williams 8 Laste Dombaxe
Bobbie Dale 9 Shaquile Coulthirst(C)
Joe Hanks 10 Joshua Onomah
Zack Kotwica 11 KennethMcEvoy
Harvey Rivers 12 Sam Smith
13 Liam Priestley
Ed Williams 14 Ruben Lamerias
(7)63Mins.
Zack Kirkpatrick-Jones15 William Miller
(7)63Mins.
Callum Marshall 16 Victor Zapata-Caicedo
Lewis Morana 17
(4)88Mins.
Scorer:-
Coulthirst 29
Coaches:-
R. Milton J. McDermott
Attendance:- 771
Referee:– M. Rushton
Assistants:– D. Jacecko & J. Ainscow
It was a fairly cool clear evening for the opening Youth Cup tie for Spurs. There was a good sized crowd which seemed to include a lot of local Spurs supporters. The trip to Cheltenham went smoothly taking a little longer than the time it took to go to Villa the previous evening, allowing time for some refreshment after meeting up with Stu Gibson and Paul Smith.
Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind Ball and Ogilvie with McQueen at right back and Ward on the left. Veljkovic anchored the midfield along with Dombaxe and Onomah. Coulthirst led the attack with Michael-Percil on his right and McEvoy on his left. Interestingly Cheltenham started with 4-1-4-1 formation which they kept for the first half before reverting to a more traditional 4-4-2 in the second.
Spurs kicked off attacking the North end and quickly looked to get their passing game going and spread the play using the wide players. Spurs showed good approach work but the extra defensive player helped to frustrate them with the final ball.
The first chance came to the visitors when McEvoy's centre fell to Onomah whose effort was saved with Michael-Percil picking up the rebound only for his shot to be blocked. The home side was presented with a chance when McGee's clearance went to Kotwica who fired wide. Dale got behind the defence to drive over before McEvoy got down the left and fired wide.
The Robins were dropping deep to defend in numbers as Spurs pushed forward, making the final third so congested that the smooth passing of Spurs became difficult but a killer pass to Coulthirst saw the striker finish low past Reaney. I think the pass was played by Dombaxe but it was difficult to see.
Spurs went looking for a second goal with McQueen's cross met at the far post by Veljkovic, but his header hit the crossbar. Coulthirst made room for a shot that Reaney saved only for McEvoy to net the rebound only to see the linesman's flag rule it out. With Spurs pushing up it was inevitable that space was left behind and Kotwica got through twice on the right firing wide on the first occasion and forcing a save from McGee on the second just before the break.
There were no changes for the start of the second half but Cheltenham changed tactics pushing two strikers up on the Spurs centre-backs to stop them from playing out from the back. They also closed down in midfield being stronger in the challenge to unsettle Spurs' passing game.
Michael-Percil was replaced by Miller having not recovered from being knocked into the stand during the first half. Miller went to the left allowing McEvoy to switch to the right wing. It was also noticeable that the Robins were moving the ball from the back quicker trying to turn the defenders which worked well as they seized the initiative with Kotwica forcing two saves from McGee in quick succession.
A long range free kick from Gonzalo was saved which then saw Onomah break away and drive wide. Spurs looked to have weathered the storm and threatened with Ward crossing to the far post for McEvoy to head back for Coulthirst, but his header was wide. Hanks drew a save from McGee as Cheltenham continued to push for an equaliser and with time running out had another chance that McGee held. Deep into added time sub Ed Williams saw his header saved.
In the second half Cheltenham got their tactics right in stopping Spurs from playing. The referee allowed a few challenges to stand which would have resulted in free kicks in normal league games, and this disrupted our normal passing game, putting our defence under pressure. Hanks was spoken to for one heavy challenge and is a player that Chelsea should look at as he has a good Drogba dive with accompanying cry of pain.
Cheltenham gave Spurs a tough start to the Youth Cup campaign and could have added their name to the list of teams that have Spurs as a scalp like Barnsley and Port Vale in previous years. Last season Stevenage took us to extra time so it shows that no side should be under-estimated. Burnley knocked out Man Utd away in this round. In the next round we have been drawn away to West Ham on a date to be fixed. The Hammers finished 5th in group 1 of the Academy Under 18 league, and will be in our group for the next phase of the league.
Ray
Top of page | Back to Youth Team Fixtures Index
|
