Premier Academy U-18 League
      Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
      Saturday 14th September 2013, 11am

         SPURS      v      BOLTON
     (White/Blue)       (All Orange)
         4-3-3              4-5-1

          2(1)               1(1) 

        Luke McGee  1  Harry Campbell
         Luke Amos  2  Jordan Hendrie
Kyle Walker-Peters  3  Liam Gibson(C)
  Filip Lesniak(C)  4  James Ball
   Christian Magho  5  William Abbotts
     Conor Ogilvie  6  Christopher Cvetko
    Emanuel Sonupe  7  Jamie Thomas
       Harry Winks  8  Sam Bailey
 Danuel Akindayini  9  Aaron Knight
    William Miller 10  Elliott Newby
      Nathan Oduwa 11  Thomas Walker

      Anton Walkes 12  Guilliamo Torres
         (2)66Mins
                   13  William Jaaskelainen
     Joshua Onomah 14  Carl Kennedy 
         (8)66Mins
  Anthony Georgiou 15  Andre Sodlund
         (7)75Mins
   Shayon Harrison 16  Isaac Taras-Nelson

Scorers:-
        Winks 32       Walker 37
        Miller 62 

Coach:-  
       J. McDermott    D. Lee

Referee:- S. Maynard

It was a cloudy morning with the threat of rain at Hotspur Way for the academy game. Unbeaten Spurs entertained a Bolton team that had lost all their games so far but had beaten their hosts the last time they met, which was in last season's FA Youth Cup, when they recorded an 8-4 victory at White Hart Lane.

Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind Maghoma and Ogilvie with Amos at right back and Walker-Peters on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Miller and Winks while Akindayini led the line with Sonupe on his right and Oduwa on his left.

Spurs kicked off attacking the West end but came up against a very resolute defence and a hard tackling midfield which looked to attack on the break. Spurs found that they could not skip past players in the centre, but had better success down the flanks where both Sonupe and Oduwa were well supported by the full backs.

Wanderers had the first chance when they broke and Thomas drew a save from McGee. Sonupe was getting down the right regularly providing crosses of all types, finally finding someone at the near post to force a save and then another found Oduwa at the far post, whose effort was also saved.

Following a Bolton free kick that McGee punched away under heavy pressure, the ball was moved on to Miller who went the length of the pitch to draw a save from Campbell. Another run by Sonupe broke the deadlock as his low cross was met by Winks at the far post who fired home.

Abbotts carried the ball out of his half evading tackles from Amos and Lesniak as he advanced down the left flank before winning a throw-in. From the throw, Knight whipped in a far post effort that McGee pushed out only for Walker to latch onto and score the equaliser. With memories of the Youth cup to inspire them Bolton looked to capitalise on the goal and pushed forward for another goal. Knight's attempt found Bailey but McGee saved.

Spurs got back in control when Akindayini played in Sonupe coming in from the left but he fired wide. Winks played a ball through the left channel for Akindayini to whip in a cross that just missed Sonupe at the far post.

The second half started with the visitors pushing forward with Bailey winning a corner from a McGee save and testing the keeper again before Gibson got forward only to fire over. Oduwa was released with a ball over the top but could not beat Campbell.

Spurs went in front again thanks to another run down the right by Sonupe who pulled the ball back for Miller to drive home. With Spurs back in control they made a double substitution replacing Winks with Onomah in midfield and Walkes replaced Amos at right back.

Campbell saved from Oduwa before Bailey centred for Knight to draw a good save from McGee for a corner. Knight headed wide from from the corner. Bolton's main threat now came from corners as they put the keeper under pressure which saw Abbotts head wide.

Spurs last change saw Georgiou replace Sonupe on the left flank with Oduwa moving to the right from where he fired wide. Bailey struck the crossbar from outside the area and McGee saved a free kick from Walker. Onomah got into the area but fired wide. Abbotts drew a save from McGee when a corner was not cleared. Georgiou got down the left before passing inside to Akindayini to cross for Miller coming in at the far post to force a save from Campbell for a corner.That was the last chance of the game as Spurs saw out the game for the three points to remain unbeaten.

Spurs had problems playing their open passing football due to some robust tackling as the visitors defended in depth. Sonupe on the right and Oduwa on the left provided the best attacking option for most of the game forcing Bolton to double up on them during the second half. This had the effect of opening up the middle of the park. Lesniak again did a good job protecting his defence with his only mistake being trying to nick the ball off Abbotts in the move that led to their goal.

Spurs remain second in the southern group a point behind Fulham who beat Manchester City 4-3 today having played a game more. Interestingly Moussa Dembele scored twice for them. Villa lost 2-3 to Everton to lose their unbeaten start and drop below Chelsea who beat Liverpool 4-2. Next Saturday Spurs travel to Stoke while Fulham visit Bolton.

Ray

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