Premier U-21 League 2013-14
         White Hart Lane, Tottenham
         Friday 28th March 2014, 7pm

          SPURS      v     ARSENAL
      ( White/Blue)      (Red/White)
          4-3-3             4-3-3

           2(1)              0(0)

      Jordan Archer  1  Matt Macey
       Alex McQueen  2  Leander Siemann
     Connor Ogilvie  3  Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill
    Milos Veljkovic  4  Glen Kamara
   Vlad Chiriches(C) 5  Semi Ajayi
       Dominic Ball  6  Isaac Hayden(C)
     Kenneth McEvoy  7  Alex Iwobi
        Harry Winks  8  Gedion Zelalem
Souleymane Coulibaly 9  Austin Lipman
     Ruben Lameiras 10  Thomas Eisfeld
       Nathan Oduwa 11  Jon Toral

      Kevin Stewart 12  Zak Ansah
          (6)77Mins     (9)61Mins
     Liam Priestley 13  Ryan Huddart
Giancarlo Gallifuoco14  Jack Jebb
          (3)85Mins     (7)79Mins
      Laste Dombaxe 15  Renny Smith
      Aaron McEneff 16  Alfred Mugabo
          (2)82Mins

Scorers:-   
   Coulibaly (pen),27
   Winks 83 

Booked:-   
   Veljkovic 82(Foul)

Sent off:-  
                        Hayden 26(Holding) 

Coach:-  
      P. Brush          S. Gatting

Attendance:- TBC

Referee:– S. Ross
Assistants:– M. Lee & O. Davies
Fourth Official:– J. Home

It was a chilly evening for the visit of North London rivals Arsenal to White Hart Lane where a big crowd turned out to see the development squads play this League fixture. Last season it was played at Hotspur Way where Spurs won 4-2. Last season there was also an away match, that was played at Barnet which Spurs won as well.

Spurs lined up with Archer in goal behind Chiriches and Ball with McQueen at right back and Ogilvie on the left. Veljkovic anchored the midfield with Lameiras and Winks while Coulibaly led the line with McEvoy on his right and Oduwa on his left. Vlad was getting his first match on the road to recovery while some young players were getting intergrated into the squad.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the Paxton Road End. The game settled into an even midfield battle with both sides moving the ball across the pitch looking for the runner through the centre. Eisfeld had an early chance which was saved by Archer, before Lameiras played in Coulibaly for an effort that he put wide.

A corner by Oduwa saw a weak effort by Coulibaly which was easily saved by Macey. Oduwa got down the left and whipped in a cross that was turned out for a corner with McEvoy threatening. Coulibaly tried one of his overhead kicks that was wide from McQueen's cross.

Then we had the incident that changed the game. Lameiras, who has the ability to get away from his marker, received the ball on the edge of the area and went between the two centre backs to face Macey. The Arsenal skipper pulled him back to concede a penalty. Because it was a goal scoring position he was shown the red card much to his amazement. Coulibaly stepped up to hit the ball down the middle but high into the top of the net as Macey went to his right.

Down to ten, the visitors found that they could not get out of their own half and came under a bombardment of crosses which were dealt with by Macey or Ajayi most of the time. Winks sent McQueen down the right and when his cross came in Ormonde-Ottewill intercepted, heading the ball against his own crossbar. A short corner on the left saw Winks cross the ball to the far post where it was cleared. Ogilvie played in Winks from the left and he fired over. Before the break Winks had another try, this time hitting his shot wide.

There were no changes for the start of the second half but the visitors looked better organised. McEvoy pulled the ball back for Lameiras to hit over. Lameiras got into the area again but was tackled fairly. Eisfeld hit a free kick over before Macey saved from Lameiras. Macey saved from Coulibaly and then Oduwa when he was played in by Lameiras.

The visitors made the first change when Ansah came on from Lipman. Lameiras played a ball inside the full back for McEvoy to run onto. The winger hit his shot across the keeper who turned it onto the far post and a defender was quick to clear as it came back across the goal line. Ansah drew a save from the the right that went for a corner. From the second corner Spurs counter-attacked through Chiriches and Lameiras which resulted in a free kick on the edge of the Arsenal area for a foul on Chiriches. Lameireas fired the kick over the bar.

Oduwa had an effort saved before Chiriches got forward again to win a corner from Macey's save. Ogilvie crossed for Coulibaly to head wide before the striker drew a save for a corner.

Spurs made their first change with Stewart replacing Ball at the back. Lameiras drew another save curling the ball towards the far post before firing wide from Winks cross. Veljkovic was shown a yellow card for a foul on Zelalem just before McEneff replaced McQueen at right back.

Spurs finally got that important second goal when a ball down the line released Oduwa to get to the line and cross to McEvoy on the right who laid it off to Winks to finish.

McEvoy was played in for an effort that was wide before Spurs made their final change. Gallifuoco came on for Ogilvie to play alongside Chiriches with Stewart moving to left back. Chiriches got forward again only to see his effort blocked by Macey for a corner. In the last minute Ansah fired over for the visitors.

This was a good result for Spurs as they moved to tenth in the table. What should have been a close match was made easy by the red card but I doubt many Spurs fans will bemoan that as any victory over the gooners is welcomed. Lameiras was the star against the club with which he spent a short time before moving to Spurs. His close control allowed him to get into space and his passing was good. Chiriches started the game taking it easy as it was his first game back but got stuck in during the second half making runs deep into the visitors half to show his fitness.

The next game for the U-21's is away to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on the 7th April. It is a game I would have attended but for the Sky moving the first team game to the same evening.

Ray

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