Premier U-21 League 2013-4
         Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground
           Monday 2nd December 2013, 1pm.

           WOLVERHAMPTON  v     SPURS
            (Gold/Black)      (All Blue)
               4-3-3            4-3-3

                3(2)             1(1)

        Wayne Hennessey   1  Jordan Archer
            Kevin Foley   2  Ryan Fredericks
         George Elokobi   3  Kevin Stewart
            David Davis   4  Milos Veljkovic
      Michael Ihiekwe(C)  5  Dominic Ball
   Ethan Ebanks-Landell   6  Giancarlo Gallifouco
       Eusebio Bancessi   7  Kenneth McEvoy
             Jack Price   8  Nabil Bentaleb(C)
           Jake Cassidy   9  Cameron Lancaster
              Lee Evans  10  Grant Ward
            Zeli Ismail  11  Shaquile Coulthirst 

             Jamie Tank  12  Alex McQueen
                             (3)67Mins
         Jonathan Flatt  13  Jonathan Miles
           Sam Whittall  14  Aaron McEneff
              (7)82Mins      (5)59Mins
        Jordan Cranston  15  Souleymane Coulibaly
                             (10)59Mins
           Robbie Parry  16

Scorers:-  
Bancessi 5, 20, 55(pen)      Ebanks-Landell o.g. 2

Booked:-  
         Ihiekwe 70(Foul)    Fredericks 55(Foul)
                             Stewart 63(dissent)

Coaches:- 
         S. Weaver           C. Ramsey 

Ref:– N. Radford
Assistants:- A. Shchetinin & S. Gudger
Fourth Officia:– D. Kuzmanovic

It was a cloudy afternoon in the Black Country for Spurs' trip to play Wolverhampton Wanderers in a game that had been moved from AFC Telford to the training ground. This was Spurs' first game in over a month and the staleness showed as they took on Wolves who were only a point behind them in mid-table.

Spurs lined up with Archer in goal behind Ball and Gallifouco with Fredericks at right back and Stewart on the left. Veljkovic anchored the midfield trio with Bentaleb and Ward. Lancaster led the line with McEvoy on his right and Coulthirst on his left. Coulibaly (back from injury) started on the bench.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the South end but lost the ball, allowing Cassidy to head over on the break. McEvoy got down the right and his low cross was not held by Hennessey and was turned over the line by Ebanks-Landell under pressure from Coulthirst.

Spurs lead did not last long as Wolves got down the left and Cassidy laid it off for Bancessi to score. Archer saved from Ismail and Davis saw his effort deflected for a corner. The home side kept the pressure on with Foley firing wide before they took the lead. Elokobi's header from a corner was blocked and Bancessi scrambled the ball in for his second. Fredericks got forward to draw a save from Hennessey before Evans fired wide from 30 yards. Cassidy shot over before the break.

Spurs continued to have problems holding onto the ball in the second half under the pressure from the home side who had an early chance when Archer saved from Price. A rare free kick saw Bentaleb fire over before Wolves scored again. Archer had done well to save Ismail's drive pushing the ball wide, but it went to Evans on the left. Fredericks dived in to take the ball only to be penalised by the ref who awarded a penalty. When Fredericks complained he was booked. Bancessi was given the ball and duly completed his hat-trick from the spot.

Spurs made two changes replacing Ward with Coulibaly and Ball with McEneff. Lancaster dropped into midfield to allow Coulibaly to go up front and Veljkovic went into the back four.

Stewart tackled Bancessi on the edge of the area and when the ref did not blow up the assistant on the far side raised his flag for a foul. Stewart's protest saw him shown a yellow card. From the free kick Archer saved Elokobi's header.

Spurs made their last change replacing Stewart with McQueen. Ihiekwe then went into the ref's book for a foul on Coulibaly, It was the third time he had committed the same foul, and the referee finally acted. The defender was luckly to stay on the field as he committed another two similar fouls before the end.

Bancessi fired wide before Spurs had a chance when McEvoy's cross was met by Coulibaly at the near post with his head but touched a Wolves player for a corner. Spurs began to string passes together and they went looking for goals. McEvoy fired over and Lancaster hit a post before Coulibaly fired wide.

This was not a good performance by Spurs which is not surprising as they have not played a competitive match for over a month. The injury to Kane meant that full back Ward was played in midfield. Wolves deserved their win as they were too powerful and while the referee allowed them to get away with some physical challenges they were more up for the game than Spurs. There were signs towards the end that Spurs' passing game was coming together so hopefully when they meet Fulham on the 13th they will do better.

Ray

(Ed:- The U-21s' commitment on 13th December means we cannot expect to see any of them in our "dead rubber" Europa League game against Anzhi. On this form, that is just as well)

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