Premier U-18 Play-offs 2014-15
            Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
              Saturday 14th March 2015, 11am

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

                  4(2)             6(3) 

               Harry Voss  1 Jared Thompson
         Christopher Paul  2 Charlie Wakefield
           Joseph Muscatt  3 Ali Suljic
                Luke Amos  4 Jake Clarke-Salter(C)
        Christian Maghoma  5 Josh Grant
           Anton Walkes(C) 6 Ruben Sammut
        Zenon Stylianides  7 Kasey Palmer
               Cy Goddard  8 Mukhtar Ali
          Shayon Harrison  9 Ike Ugbo
           Marcus Edwards 10 Jeremie Boga
         Kazaiah Sterling 11 Charly Musonda

          Charlie Hayford 12 Kyle Scott
                (8)61Mins    (7)68Mins
            Thomas Glover 13 Nathan Baxter
              Armani Daly 14 Jay Desilva
               (11)66Mins    (4)63Mins
               Lloyd Ross 15 Fikayo Tomori
                Ryan Loft 16 Tammy Abraham
               (10)81Mins    (10)63Mins

Scorers:-
   Harrison 6, 27, 49, 52    Sammut 12
                             Ugbo 23, 35
                             Abraham 74, 78, 89 

Booked:-
   Amos 79(Foul)             Sammut 70(Foul)
                             Scott 76(Dissent)

Coach:-
   K. McKenna                J. Edwards

Referee:– T. Harkin

It was a cold and cloudy morning for the first game in the second phase of the Academy League. Southern League winners Chelsea were the visitors. They had won 4-2 here in the fisrt phase with Abraham getting a hat-trick. Spurs have played the "Blues" twice in the last two weeks, losing 2-1 away and winning 2-0 at WHL in the Cup. We are due to play them away in the second leg of the Cup on Wednesday next week.

Both sides were stronger than at Cobham while not as strong as in the FA Youth Cup at WHL. Spurs lined up with Voss in goal behind Maghoma and Walkes with Paul at right back and Muscatt on the left. Amos anchored the diamond midfield with Stylianides and Goddard wide with Edwards behind the front two of Harrison and Sterling. Chelsea included some of their Cup team with Abraham on the bench.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North end but the visitors had the first chance when a quick counter attack saw Voss saving from Boga. Both sides sought to attack at pace with quick passing of a high standard.Wakefield got down the right, crossing for Ugbo to fire wide.

Spurs took the lead when Edwards won the ball on the right and got round the back before pulling it back for Harrison to drive home. Muscatt got forward and cut inside to curl his effort wide of the far post, but Chelsea looked the better side and won a free kick on the right. Musonda floated it in for Sammut to head home for the equaliser.

Paul tried to play in Sterling on the left but the ball was deflected out of his path. Ugbo fired over before Goddard drove wide. The visitors took the lead when Grant headed a corner against the crossbar and Ugbo reacted quickest to put it in the net. The lead did not last long as Goddard got through the left channel before laying it off to Harrison. His low drive was half saved by Thompson before crossing the line.

The game was end to end with Boga drawing a save before Stylianides' effort was saved after Sterling's drive was blocked. Ugbo got the better of Maghoma and outpaced him to fire past Voss for his second and Chelsea's third. As the half ended, Musonda drew a save from Voss before firing wide wit another effort.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Edwards play in Sterling for an effort that was saved. Edwards got down the left again, cutting into the area where Suljic tackled him from behind. The referee decided it was a foul and awarded Spurs a penalty. Harrison stepped up to drive it into the bottom right corner for his hat-trick to draw the home side level again.

A loose ball saw Harrison race away and shoot into the far corner to put Spurs in front with his fourth of the match. It almost got better for the home side when Harrison played in Sterling to beat Thompson only for the offside flag to rule it out.

Both sides made a number of changes in the next few minutes. Hayford replaced Goddard in midfield and Daly replaced Sterling up front while Abraham was one of three Chelsea changes. Spurs looked as if they had made a break with three on two, but Sammut fouled Amos to stop him getting away and went into the ref's book.

When Walkes' forward pass was picked off, Abraham was too quick for Maghoma, running onto the through ball. The Chelsea striker cut inside and beat Voss with a low finish. Having warned Chelsea about talking back to him, the referee booked Scott for something he said when a decision went against them. Strangely, after the Chelsea coach complained, more decisions went the visitors way.

Amos lost the ball on the edge of his area and Chelsea worked it to Abraham who finished strongly to put them in front again. Amos was booked for a foul trying to recover the ball. Daly got down the left and played it inside for Edwards to fire over, before Spurs made their last change taking Edwards off for Loft. Musonda fired over as Chelsea tried to control the game. Musonda then drew a save from Voss.

Stylianides sent Harrison away for the striker to fire just wide of the far post. With time running out, Chelsea attacked on the right and when the ball was played into Abraham at the near post he chipped the keeper for his hat-trick and the visitors' sixth. The last chance fell to the visitors when Sammut fired over.

This had been an exciting open game of attacking football played at pace from beginning to end with Spurs coming up short. If Spurs' fifth goal had stood then they may have won it but Chelsea have an abundance of attacking power, and Spurs did well not to be blown away. Chelsea looked the better of the two sides which you would expect with their buying power scoring 10 goals at Hotspur Way in two games while still conceding 6. Abraham has scored six of those for Chelsea while Harrison has got four of Spurs. The two will most likely be at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday looking to add to their tally. Both sides will be stronger as Spurs defend a two goal lead from the first leg.

Next week's play-off game will see Spurs travel to Middlesbrough who had a better record in the northern section than did Chelsea in the southern section. "Boro" finished 9 points clear of Everton. Hopefully Spurs will be buoyed by making the final of the Youth Cup and a likely meeting with Manchester City who have a 3-0 first leg lead.

Ray

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