Premier U-18 League,
              Southern Group 2013-14
         Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
             Tuesday 6th May 2014, 5pm

               SPURS     v   ASTON VILLA
            (White/Blue)    (Claret/Blue)
               4-3-3            4-3-3

                4(2)             5(4) 

         Liam Priestley  1 Charlie Bannister
       Christopher Paul  2 Ryan Strain
         Joseph Muscatt  3 Mitch Clarke
          Charlie Owens  4 Kodi Lyons-Foster
Channing Campbell-Young  5 Tamas Zazrivec
        Anton Walkes(C)  6 Kevin Toner(C)
        Charlie Hayford  7 Corey Taylor
             Cy Goddard  8 Harry McKirdy
              Ryan Loft  9 Rushian Hepburn-Murphy
             Lloyd Ross 10 Henry Cowans
       Anthony Georgiou 11 Callum O'Hare

              Luke Amos 12 Harry Lewis
              (3)61Mins    (93)78Mins
             Harry Voss 13 Dylan Forth
      Zenon Stylianides 14 Jack Clark
              (4)70Mins    (4)46Mins
            Armani Daly 15 Luke Colman
             (11)70Mins    (7)68Mins
                        16 Jake Humphries

Scorers:
        Loft 15            McKirdy 1
        Georgiou 20        O'Hare 9
        Goddard 54         Toner 47
        Paul 58            Hepburn-Murphy 53, 68 

Sent off:- 
Campbell-Young 60(Last Man)

Coach:-
        K. McKenna         T. McAndrew

Referee:– A. Anastasiou

The last Academy game of the group stage was a re-arranged home match against Aston Villa. Originally scheduled to kick off at noon it was moved to later in the day. Spurs drew the away game 2-2 back in October. Spurs took the opportunity to blood some more U-16 players ahead of next season.

Spurs lined up with Priestley in goal behind Campbell-Young and Walkes with Paul making his debut at right back and Muscatt on the left. Owens made his first start anchoring the midfield alongside Ross and Goddard. Loft led the line with Hayford making his first appearance and Georgiou. Hayford drifted inside for most of the game behind Loft.

Spurs defended the east end in the first half and conceded a goal in the first minute when Villa got down the right and McKirdy drove the cross into the far corner. Georgiou got down the left and crossed for Loft to turn wide at the far post. Georgiou fired over before Villa scored again. McKirdy played in O'Hare to score at the far post.

Paul got down the right to cross for Loft to drive wide. Walkes' long ball sent Georgiou away to fire into the side netting. Loft won the ball from the visitors' defence and took it into the area on the right, before driving it into the far corner of the net to reduce the visitors' lead.

Toner headed over from a corner before Spurs drew level. Hayford released Georgiou to go on and beat Bannister with a low drive. Cowans played in McKirdy for an effort that was deflected wide for a corner. Georgiou played in Owens for a chance that flew over. O'Hare set up Hepburn-Murphy for an effort which was blasted over, before Muscatt picked up a clearance and dribbled his way into the area and drew a save from Bannister.

Villa were quick off the mark again in the second half with a 30 yard effort which was tipped over the bar by Priestley. From the corner Toner headed powerfully home to put the visitors back in front. Priestley saved a header from Cowans before the "Villans" increased their lead. Walkes was the villain when his square ball inside to Campbell-Young was pounced on by Hepburn-Murphy who raced away to beat Priestley with a low finish.

Spurs responded quickly by working the ball down the left with Muscatt playing the ball inside to Georgiou who drove the ball across the area for the advancing Goddard to score. Spurs were level again when Loft knocked down a long ball to Goddard and set off expecting a return ball. Goddard hit the ball long for Paul, whose run had gone unnoticed, for the full back to go round the keeper and score.

Spurs joy was short lived as Hepburn-Murphy ran onto a ball through the centre and was tackled from behind by Campbell-Young chasing back. The referee showed the defender a red card as the last man, much to his displeasure. Cowans saw his free kick deflected wide for a corner from which Spurs counter-attacked with Georgiou drove wide of the far post.

Amos, wearing the number 16 came on for Muscatt at left back as Villa looked to make their man advantage tell. McKirdy fired over and Priestley saved from Hepburn-Murphy. Spurs pushed up trying to keep a high line but when the ball was played through the middle, Hepburn-Murphy beat the offside trap for a clear run at goal to score what turned out to be the winner.

Spurs made a double change replacing Owens with Stylianides in midfield and Daly, wearing No.17, replaced Georgiou on the left. Zazrivec drove into the area drawing a save from Priestley before Ross played the ball inside Clark for Loft to drive into the side netting. Bannister saved from Daly at the expense of a corner before Hepburn-Murphy had a one on one with Priestley which the keeper saved with his legs, before the striker won a corner with his follow up. Hepburn-Murphy had another two efforts that he hit wide before drawing a save with his last.

This was not a bad result for a weak Spurs side which gave the younger players a taste of what it is like to be tackled, which they would not have experienced before. It was very different from playing against the Ipswich U-15's. They coped well especially when they went down to ten men. Praise to Loft who took a battering up front and only retaliated once. I seem to remember that there was a lot of niggling in the first game which may have been carried over into this one. It is a pity that Spurs finished on a defeat but they can hope for better on Sunday at Goodison when a strong team will face Everton in the play-off semi-final. This should, of course, have been a home game but White Hart Lane was not available in the time allowed.

Ray

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