Premier U-21 League 2013-4
          Leigh Village Stadium, Leigh.
         Monday 10th February 2014, 7.pm.

           BLACKBURN    v      SPURS
         (Blue/White)        (All Blue)
             4-3-3            4-2-1-3

              2(0)              2(1)

            David Raya  1 Jordan Archer
 Hugo Fernandez Molina  2 Alexander McQueen
           Aaron Tumwa  3 Kevin Stewart(C)
           Corry Evans  4 Milos Veljkovic
          Ryan Edwards  5 Giancarlo Gallifouco
           Lucas Neill  6 Dominic Ball
        Connor Mahoney  7 Kenneth McEvoy
     Darragh Lenihan(C) 8 Aaron McEneff
            Deniz Pero  9 Souleymane Coulibaly
            Bryan Dabo 10 Shaquile Coulthirst
       Bradley Bauress 11 Ruben Lameiras

       Dean Rittenberg 12 Laste Dombaxe
             (9)66Mins    (8)71Mins
         Matthew Urwin 13 Luke McGee
        Jordan Preston 14 Darren McQueen
                          (9)82Mins
         Robbie Cotton 15 Emmanuel Sonupe
             (4)61Mins    (11)82Mins
          Will Beesley 16 
            (11)61Mins

Scorers:-
        Rittenberg 80     Lameiras 39
        Tumwa 86          Coulthirst 83

Booked:-  
                          Gallifouco 30(Foul)
                          Veljkovic 65(Not 10 yds)

Coaches:-  
        C. Hendry         J. McDermott   

Attendance:– 366

Referee:– J. Johnson
Assistants:- C. Hope & A. Cawtherley
Fourth Official:– P. Shacklady

It was a chilly evening for Spurs' visit to Leigh for the U-21 League game against Blackburn Rovers. Blackburn lost their last game 0-5 to Norwich and sit on the bottom of the table while Spurs drew 0-0 at home to Everton.

Spurs lined up with Archer in goal behind Ball and Gallifouco with Alex McQueen at right back and Stewart on the left. Veljkovic and McEneff formed a defensive shield with Coulthirst in front of them behind a front three consisting of Coulibaly in the middle, McEvoy on the right and Lameiras on the left.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North end and had an early chance when McEvoy got down the right and whipped in a low cross that just evaded Coulibaly. Ten minutes later Mahoney put in a dangerous cross from the right that was cleared by McQueen.

Raya saved from Coulthirst a minute later but there were very few chances as the game was fought in the middle of the pitch. A long ball from Ball was headed goal-wards by Coulibaly but easily collected by Raya.

Gallifouco was booked for a tackle on Dabo before the striker played in Mahoney for an effort that was saved by Archer. Spurs were looking the more dangerous and went in front from a free kick. Veljkovic took the kick from the left side, finding McEneff on the edge of the area. His shot was blocked and it fell nicely for Lameiras to volley into the net off the right post. Five minutes later, Coulibaly struck the crossbar at the near post with a free kick. McEneff fired wide in added time at the end of the half.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Rovers begin well. Mahoney played in Pero who set up Dabo for a chance that was wide. Pero fired over before drawing a save from Archer. Veljkovic was booked for not retreating ten yards having conceded a free kick to prevent it being taken quickly. The free kick was headed over by Edwards before Rovers made their final change, bringing on Rittenberg who scored against Spurs in the U-18 fixture.

Lameiras was just wide with a free kick from just outside the area before Spurs made their first change replacing McEneff with Dombaxe in midfield. A mistake in midfield allowed Beesley to play in Rittenberg to beat Archer for the equaliser.

Spurs made a double substitution replacing Coulibaly with Darren McQueen up front and replacing Lameiras with Sonupe to give more width. Sonupe worked on the right with McEvoy switching to the left. The changes were made when Spurs had been awarded a free kick on the left which Dombaxe took, finding Coulthirst attacking the near post to head home and regain the lead.

The lead did not last long as the referee gave a foul on the right and the free kick was put into a crowded area where Tumwa got his head to it and scored (the announcer gave it to Dabo) . A deflected drive by McEvoy was pulled wide by Darren McQueen. Dabo had the last chance when he fired over in added time.

Spurs were the better footballing side but failed to create enough chances to make the game safe and Blackburn got the luck for their goals to gain a point.

Next week Spurs have a home game against Bolton who are mid-table after losing their last game 0-4 at Manchester City. The venue for this game is still to be fixed.

Ray

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