Premier U-18 League Southern group 2014-15
                  Motspur Park, Surrey
              Saturday 1st November 2014, 11am.

                 FULHAM     v     SPURS
              (White/Black)     (All Black)
                 4-3-3            4-3-3

                  2(1)             3(2)

               Marek Rodak  1 Harry Voss
     Ryheem Sheckleford(C)  2 Kyle Walker-Peters
           Shane Elsworthy  3 Joseph Muscatt
            Elijah Adebayo  4 Charlie Owens
              Jerome Opoku  5 Christian Maghoma(C)
                Josh Smile  6 Luke Amos
           Dennis Adeniran  7 Armani Daly
             D.J. Buffonge  8 Zenon Stylianides
               Connor Hall  9 Ryan Loft
                 Tayo Edun 10 Cy Goddard
             Joshua Walker 11 Anthony Georgiou

              Ravin Shamsi 12 Christopher Paul
                 (5)46Mins    (3)67Mins
              Josh Lukwata 13 Alfie Whiteman
             Kayne Roberts 14 Dylan Duncan
                 (9)60Mins    (10)76Mins
             Marlon Fossey 15 Marcus Edwards
                 (7)60Mins    (7)67Mins

Scorers:-
             Walker 5, 77     Georgiou 7  
                              Loft 13
                              Daly 54

Booked:-  
          Shamsi 68(Foul)     Amos 84(KBA)
     Sheckleford 87(Foul)
          Edun 90+1(Foul)

Coaches:- 
          K. Keen             K. McKenna 

Referee:– S. Williams
Assistants:- P. Glover & A. Del Maschio

It was a warm sunny morning for Spurs' trip to Fulham's training ground out in the suburbs. I forgot to register in advance for this match with Fulham as it was being played out on the pitches next to the U-16 game and not on their “stadium” pitch. They did let me in but I missed the opening quarter of an hour.

Spurs lined up with Voss in goal behind Maghoma and Amos with Walker-Peters at right back and Muscatt on the left. Owens anchored the midfield with Stylianides and Goddard with Loft up front flanked by Daly on the right and Georgiou on the left. There was another new face on the bench in the form of 15 year old Dylan Duncan. Fulham fielded a former Tottenham schoolboy in Josh Walker.

Spurs attacked down the slope towards the North end and quickly got on top of the home side. Fulham broke away and Voss saved from Hall only to see Walker score from the rebound. It took Spurs less than two minutes to get on level terms when good work from Georgiou ended with a low shot that went in under the keeper's body.

Spurs continued to dominate the game using the flanks while Fulham were hanging on - mostly to the Spurs players, and began to be a little over-physical in the tackle. The referee was trying to allow the advantage, but I feel he should have acted sooner than he did. Spurs went in front from a corner when Goddard's kick was headed in by Loft.

Walker-Peters crossed for Goddard to fire over and a Georgiou shot went across the goal with Loft failing to make contact at the far post. Buffonge picked up a loose ball from Georgiou and drew a save from Voss. Georgiou provided the ball for Daly to test Marek late in the half.

Fulham made one change for the second half, but could not stop Spurs' control of the game as Goddard chipped the Fulham defence for Daly to fire in from the edge of the area to extend Spurs lead.

Daly got through again but Marek blocked at his feet. Walker-Peters got down the right and played in Georgiou for a chance that was saved. Voss saved from Adeniran after a short free kick routine just outside the area while Elworthy was wide from another.

Fulham made a double change, which was followed by a double change by Spurs. Paul replaced Muscatt, who had had a knock in the first half. Paul went to right back with Walker-Peters moving to the left. Edwards came on for Daly and also took up position on the left flank with Georgiou moving to the right flank.

The referee finally booked a Fulham player for fouling Owens as he tried to break from his own half. Loft drew a save from Marek getting on the end of a Goddard free kick. The striker was then played in on the left side and drew a save from the keeper with the ball popping up for a second chance but Marek got a hand to that as well.

Walker fired wide and Paul had a poor effort go wide before Spurs made their last change with a debut for Duncan as he replaced Goddard.

Fulham got down the right and crossed for Walker to get his second to reduce the arrears. This gave the home side the belief they might get something from the game and they put even more effort into their challenges while Spurs sought to see out the game.

Amos was booked for kicking the ball away to waste time. Georgiou was caught by a tackle that was so bad I could hear the studs grating on his shin-pad. The next tackle he faced caused him to jump out of the way as Sheckleford slid in? with studs showing. The referee booked the Fulham captain and spoke to Edun about the other one.

Georgiou had cut inside before the tackle, to draw a save from the keeper and he was not put off as he did the same again. Edun did go into the ref's book for a foul in added time which I thought was his second following on from the earlier incident.

This was a tough game, which really tested the Spurs players' control. Some did react to the treatment handed out but they stayed cool. This Fulham team was not as good as they have fielded in the last few years when they were very successful. With the U-21 game the night before, the Spurs side was not as strong as it could have been. It was unusual to see Voss kicking long to Loft to head on for Edwards to run onto the ball. The win moves Spurs up to fourth in the table and they play West Brom away next Saturday. West Brom beat Arsenal 2-0 yesterday to be two points behind Spurs.

Ray

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