Premier U-18 League, 2013-14
      Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
     Saturday 17th August 2013, 12 noon


        SPURS       v     MIDDLESBROUGH
     (White/Blue)           (All Red)
        4-3-3                 4-3-3

         4(2)                  0(0)

        Luke McGee  1 Joe Fryer
      Anton Walkes  2 Robert Tinkle
 Kyle Walker-Peters 3 Nathan McGinley
     Filip Lesniak  4 Priestley Griffiths(C)
 Christian Maghoma  5 Jonathan Coleby
     Conor Ogilvie  6 Ross McNab
   Emmanuel Sonupe  7 Lewis Maloney
       Josh Onomah  8 Mark Kitching
  Danial Akindayini 9 Thomas McAloon
    William Miller 10 Scott McCarthy
  Anthony Georgiou 11 Luke Armstrong

    Channing
    Campbell-Young 12 Dael Fry
                     (5)46Mins.
    Liam Priestley 13 Aynsley Pears
         Luke Amos 14 Callum Cooke
         (7)72Mins    (7)46Mins.
        Lloyd Ross 15 Junior Mondal
         (9)80Mins    (11)59Mins
      Nathan Oduwa 16
        (11)61Mins

Scorers:-
  Akindayini 8, 22
  Oduwa 71,
  Amos 81

Coach:-
   J. McDermott      P. Jenkins

Referee:- L. Grimsey

For the opening game of the season, the sky was overcast but the the rain held off for the visit of Middlesbrough. Both teams have had a good build-up to the start of the season with the visitors having played three and won three in Holland while Spurs had a mini tournament at Hotspur Way last weekend. It was behind closed doors but I heard that Spurs played Man. Utd., Villa, Chelsea and Arsenal. They won two and drew two.

Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind Maghoma and Ogilvie with Walkes at right back and Walker-Peters on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Onomah and Miller alongside him. Akindayini led the line with Sonupe on the right and Georgiou on the left.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the south end and were soon into their passing play. Akindayini got through on the left but shot wide of the far post. Akindayini forced a turnover when McNab received a poor pass and drove into the area to beat Fryer with a low shot to open the scoring.

A free kick by Griffiths to the far post just beat Armstrong as the visitors responded. Sonupe got down the right and crossed for Akindayini but his marker got it away for a corner. The visitors defence was well organised and managed to keep Spurs at bay until Georgiou got the better of Tinkler to feed Akindayini at the near post. His bad connection wrong-footed the keeper for his and Spurs second goal.

McAloon turned on a ball played into the left side of the area and looked to have pulled a goal back until Walker-Peters appeared to clear off the line. McGee made a good save to deny Maloney at the expense of a corner. Onomah saw his effort deflected wide before his free kick found Ogilvie for a chance that was saved.

Maghoma was then put under pressure and played a weak back pass to McGee who had to come out quickly to prevent McCarthy getting Middlesbrough's first. Unfortunately he grabbed the ball to concede a free kick in the area. Griffiths played the ball square for Maloney to drive over. A right side corner was played back to Miller on the edge of the area but he drove wide. Armstrong got through to fire wide as the half came to an end.

The visitors made two changes for the second half as they tried to get back into the game. An early free kick from Griffiths was saved by McGee and McAloon tried a cheeky back-heel that the keeper had no problem with. Ogilvie came forward with the ball and played it out to Walker-Peters who saw a gap and went through it to draw a save from Fryers.

A short corner saw Miller drive into the area on the line before pulling the ball back for Ogilvie to crash it onto the underside of the bar. There is no goal-line technology here! Georgiou beat the offside trap on the left and advanced on the keeper before hitting the ball over the bar injuring himself in the process. He was replaced by Oduwa on the left.

McAloon fired a shot against the near post going through the left channel. Sonupe and Akindayini combined on the right to get the ball into the centre of the area where Oduwa pulled it down and scored with a low finish. Sonupe was injured in the build-up and was replaced by Amos who went into midfield with Miller moving to the right.

With ten minutes to go, Akindayini was replaced by Ross for his first appearance as Spurs sought to close the game out switching to 4-4-2. Oduwa got away down the left and drew the keeper before crossing from an acute angle. Either Amos or a defender got a touch to finish it off(Luke's father says it was him). Fryers saved from Miller and had an easy stop from Ross before Maghoma made a great block to prevent McCarthy spoiling a clear sheet.

This was a good performance and a fine result for the opening game of the season. Boro were no pushovers and did not deserve such a big scoreline but Spurs' team play was good. Georgiou had a battle with Tinkler on the left while Sonupe did better on the right as Spurs played with width. Lesniak stood out with his link play in front of the back four only getting caught once when closed down by three players. The U-16's did not do so well losing to the visitors 4-1.

Next week the Academy go to Southampton, who lost 2-1 at home to Everton today. Continued development at their Staplewood training ground means that access is restricted and you need to apply in advance to get in.

The next match at Hotspur Way is midday on Monday (19th August, 2013)when the visitors are the Manchester City U-21 side. Last week City lost their opening league game 1-2 to Fulham while Spurs beat Chelsea 4-2 in theirs.

Ray

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