IMG Boys Invitation Tournament – Super group

Wednesday 18th December – Round one

Spurs 3 v Queretaro 0

Spurs – White/Blue, 4-3-3 - McGee, McQueen, Carter-Vickers, Ogilvie(Vincent-Young 81), Walker-Peters, Lesniak(Walkes 76), Winks(Miller 52), Onomah(Amos 86), Michael-Percil(Sonupe 65), Oduwa, Harrison(Akindayini 60)

Unused Subs. - Priestley, Goddard, Pritchard

Scorers – Harrison 12, Michael-Percil 25, Sonupe 90+2

Booking – Oduwa 86

Queretaro – Black/Blue 4-2-3-1 - Team unknown

Bookings – 4 – 4th, 18th, 44th, 58th minutes.

This match was delayed by half an hour due to a bad injury to the Stevenage keeper in the previous match as there was no medical team on stand-by and it took a while for an ambulance to arrive. I did not have squad sheets for the teams before the the start of the game and only picked them up after the game. The Queretaro squad did not match the numbers on their shirts making it impossible to identify them.

Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind a defence of Carter-Vickers and McQueen with Walker-Peters on the right and Ogilvie on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Onomah and Winks. Up front Harrison led the line with Michael-Percil on the right and Oduwa on the left.

Spurs kicked of the first half attacking the north end into a strong breeze. The Mexicans did not like players to run with the ball and were quite physical in their tackles and use of the body which the referee allowed in most cases, so there was not much free flowing football on offer.

Both sides showed patches of skill in some of the approach play but both defences were strong. It took only four minutes for the first booking when Michael-Percil was stopped in his tracks as he dribbled through the defence.

The first chance fell to the Mexicans when they fired over. Spurs first chance came in the tenth minute following a free kick by Winks to Onomah on the left. His centre to Harrison was saved by the keeper. Spurs opened the scoring from a failed attack by Queretaro. McGee kicked the ball out to Walker-Peters who released Michael-Percil down the right and when his cross came in, Harrison met it with his head.

Oduwa's tricky dribbling skills on the left had produced a string of free kicks before the referee finally booked the full back for one too many. McGee was called on to make a save before Spurs increased their lead. A through ball from Winks saw Michael-Percil beat the offside trap and he went on to round the keeper before putting the ball into the empty net.

Queretaro responded with a shot from a right sided cross that went straight into McGee's hands. Just before the end of the half Queretaro picked up their third booking when their striker went through McQueen on the line as he shepherded the ball out.

Five minutes into the second half and Winks played in Onomah for an effort that was wide before he was replaced by Miller. When Miller got the better of a defender on the left, the defender pulled him back to get booked by the referee. Akindayini replaced Harrison up front and quickly had a header saved from Miller's cross.

The tiring Michael-Percil was replaced by Sonupe just before the Mexicans hit the crossbar from a corner. Onomah sent Sonupe away down the right and when his cross was half-cleared Akindayini drove it wide of the far post. Akindayini played the ball out to Ogilvie and his cross was helped on by Miller to Sonupe, but the winger fired wide.

Queretaro had an effort wide before Walkes replaced Lesniak in midfield. After Queretaro had a couple of chances that they put wide Ogilvie was replaced by Vincent-Young who went to right back with Walker-Peters moving to the left.With Spurs looking to see out the game, a short free kick to Onomah saw the midfielder advance to the edge of the area and square the ball to Miller to strike. The keeper saved diving to his left.

Spurs then picked up a booking when Oduwa was penalised for a tackle from behind. Spurs made their last change when Amos replaced Onomah in midfield. As the game went into added time Akindayini laid the ball out wide from the centre circle to Oduwa on the right. The lanky winger went down the line and crossed for Sonupe to score. There was still time for the Mexican's to have an effort fly wide before the final whistle.

This was a good victory for Spurs as they looked the better side and they go into the second round of matches well placed. IMG also won thir opening game 3-0 while Stevenage put in a good performance before losing to Cruzerio 3-1. Spurs next play Baltimore Celtic tomorrow (Thursday 19th December) at midday.

Ray

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