Premier U-18 League 2013-4, 
                 Southern Group 
        Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
       Saturday 15th February 2014, 11.30am

             SPURS     v     LEICESTER
          (White/Blue)      (Blue/White)
             4-3-3             4-5-1

              3(1)              0(0) 

           Harry Voss  1  Liam Sharpe
   Kane Vincent-Young  2  Dylan Casey
     Joesph Pritchard  3  Ben Chilwell
        Filip Lesniak  4  Elliott Moore
Cameron Carter-Vickers 5  Herve Pepe-Ngoma(C)
       Connor Ogilvie  6  Shane Dineen
      Emmanuel Sonupe  7  Kyle Bailey
        Harry Winks(C) 8  Matt Miles
    Daniel Akindayini  9  Simonas Stankevicius
       William Miller 10  Danny Rowe
         Nathan Oduwa 11  Andre Olukanmi

         Anton Walkes 12  Connor Anderson
            (8)73Mins
       Liam Priestley 13  Luke Simpson
           Lloyd Ross 14  Tomas Dombrauskis
           (10)73Mins     (4)78Mins
     Anthony Georgiou 15  Chris Dusabe
            (7)70Mins     (9)68Mins
                      16  Layton Ndukwu

Scorers:-  
    Akindayini 41, 46
    Ogilvie 78 

Booked:-   
    Winks 66(Late)        Moore 18(Late) 

Coach:-
    J. McDermott          T. Peake

Referee:– S. Idris

It was a very windy morning and the clouds were whizzing across the sky giving the pitch bright sunshine and some rain. The pitch used was the No.2 pitch which runs North-South so that the wind blew across the pitch into the faces of the spectators, making my job more difficult. Half-way through the game, the wind shifted more to the North which gave some problems to the keeper in the South goal. Leicester City came to Hotspur Way on a run of three defeats and sat one off the bottom of the group table.

Spurs lined up with Voss in goal behind Carter-Vickers and Ogilvie with Vincent-Young at right back and Pritchard on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Miller and Winks while Akindayini led the line with Sonupe on the right and Oduwa on the left.

Spurs kicked off attacking the North end and took a while to settle in the conditions. The same applied to the "Foxes", which meant most of the time was spent in midfield.

Spurs had an early chance when Winks drew a save from Sharpe. Moore was booked early for a late challenge on Lesniak, his second inside the opening twenty minutes. The visitors' defence was doing well; particularly the two full backs, who also got forward well.

Midway into the half, Ogilvie fired in from Winks' corner but Sharpe saved. Stankevicius hit a post as Leicester began to look dangerous when the wind shifted. A free kick by Chilwell was caught by the wind and hit the crossbar at the far post. Voss had to react quickly when a corner from the right was almost blown in at the far post.

Ogilvie headed over another corner from Winks before Spurs took the lead. Oduwa had switched to the right wing and his first run saw him get to the line and play the ball into the near post where Akindayini turned it in. Sonupe came inside and hit a long range effort that was saved before the half ended.

There were no changes for the second half, which saw an early goal from Spurs. Oduwa won the ball just inside the Leicester half and got past the last defender before squaring the ball for Akindayini to claim his, and Spurs second.

With the wind blowing towards the Leicester goal they had problems getting out of their half. However, Stankevicius was played through but hit the ball early and it went over.

Miller was played in but shot wide before Akindayini was played in by Winks only to see Sharpe save. Winks was booked for a late tackle as Spurs closed the visitors down quickly high up the pitch, penning them into their own half . Ogilvie went on a run from his own half into the area but his effort was saved.

Spurs made their first change, replacing Sonupe with Georgiou to work on the left, with Oduwa going to the right. Oduwa played in Miller for a chance that he put wide, before he went off, along with Winks, to be replaced by Ross and Walkes.

It was soon 3-0 when Ogilvie carried the ball out of defence before passing it to Georgiou who laid it off to Pritchard. When the cross came in, Ogilvie had carried on to the near post to turn it into the net.

Another run by Ogilvie was stopped by Dusabe near the area. Oduwa took the free kick but it flew over the bar. Dusabe made a run into the left channel which was stopped by two defenders conceding the foul. As Leicester lined up the free kick on the edge of the area, the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Rowe stepped up and hit the ball to the keeper's left but Voss had guessed right and saved the kick.

The ball was moved up-field quickly as Spurs countered and almost scored when Akindayini turned the ball onto the near post from Ross's cross. Akindayini tried to make amends by laying the ball off for Georgiou but the keeper saved his drive. Akindayini had the last chance of the game, but he fired wide.

This was a good win in difficult conditions but Spurs were always too good for Leicester and once they settled they had most of the possession. Leicester defended well and their full backs kept the number of crosses down. Harry Voss had some scary moments in the first half due to the wind but finished with a clean sheet thanks to his penalty save.

Fulham did not play today so Spurs now have the same number of points, and are joined on 43 points by West Ham who beat Reading 4-0 today. Fulham have a better goal difference of two over Spurs who hold a two goal advantage over the "Hammers". Next Saturday Spurs travel to the Gooners who were held 2-2 at Chelsea. Spurs beat their north London rivals 4-2 earlier in the season so will be looking to complete the double. Unfortunately it would appear that no one will be allowed into see this game. I will try but there may be no report next week.

Ray

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