Premier U-18, Southern League 2014-15
                  Hotspur Way, Enfield
           Wednesday 26th November 2014, 12 noon

                 SPURS      v     WEST HAM
              (White/Blue)     (Claret/Blue)
                 4-3-3             4-2-3-1

                  4(0)              3(0) 

                Harry Voss  1  Clarke Bogard
        Kyle Walker-Peters  2  Alex Pike
              Anton Walkes  3  Vashon Neufville
                 Luke Amos  4  Noha Sylvestre
      Christian Maghoma(C)  5  Tunji Akinola
    Cameron Carter-Vickers  6  Reece Burke
            Ismail Azzaoui  7  Jeremiah Amoo
          Joseph Pritchard  8  Marcus Browne
           Shayon Harrison  9  Djair Parfitt-Williams
                Cy Goddard 10  Kieran Bailey
          Anthony Georgiou 11  Oscar Borg

                 Ryan Loft 12  Joe Powell
                 (9)61Mins     (10)63Mins
             Thomas Glover 13  Dan Boness
         Zenon Stylianides 14  Decarrey Sheriff
                  (5)5Mins     (4)80Mins
            Joseph Muscatt 15  Fatia Adebayo
                 (8)79Mins
               Armani Daly 16  Ross Elsom
                               (6)46Mins

Scorers:-
          Pritchard 46         Borg 60, 90+4
          Walkes 58            Akinola 85
          Azzaoui 65
          Georgiou 80 

Booked:-  
   Carter-Vickers 19(Foul)

Coach:-
          K. McKenna           S. Potts

Referee:– J. Mannix

It was an overcast and damp morning for this game which had been moved from December to allow for the Youth Cup tie, against Blackburn, to be played before Spurs jet off to Florida for the IMG Cup. This was the return fixture from earlier in the season when Spurs drew 3-3 at Little Heath. Pritchard, Amos and Onomah were our scorers then, and McKenna made two changes from that line-up while the "Hammers" made five.

Spurs lined up with Voss in goal behind Maghoma and Carter-Vickers, with Walker-Peters at right back and Walkes on the left. Amos anchored the midfield trio with Pritchard and Goddard while Harrison led the line with Georgiou on his right and Azzaoui on his left.

Spurs kicked off attacking the South end against a Hammers side which closed down quickly in all areas of the pitch, causing Spurs to hurry their passes. This led to the home side losing possession a lot. Spurs lost Maghoma early on due to some tough tackling. He was replaced by Stylianides who slotted in well at the back.

The first chance of the game fell to the "Irons" when they won the ball in the middle and Browne was played in for a shot across the goal. Georgiou fired over from the right side following a corner, before a saving tackle on Neufville by Carter-Vickers saw him get a booking. It stopped the full back getting through on goal so Carter-Vickers "took it for the team”.

Azzaoui played in Pritchard from the right but the midfielder hit it well over. Voss saved well from Amoo as the visitors controlled the midfield late in the half. Walkes combined with Georgiou on the left and got into the area, but Bogard saved at his near post. Amoo played in Browne for a chance he put wide, while Burke headed over from a corner and Bailey saw his effort deflected wide for a corner at the end of the half.

West Ham made one change for the start of the second half which may have helped Spurs. From the kick off Goddard played the ball forward for Harrison and he got the better of Elsom as they tangled, getting the ball to Pritchard, who advanced and scored low past Bogard.

West Ham responded strongly, pushing Spurs back and winning a series of corners which Spurs survived, before beginning to control the midfield.

Pritchard fired wide before Goddard saw his free kick saved by Bogard at his near post. Spurs had switched wingers to allow them to come inside for the second half and this upset the Hammers' defence, allowing Walkes more space and his defence-splitting ball found Georgiou. The winger took too much time before firing over.

Full back Walkes then found space to drive forward and into the area scoring with a low finish to give Spurs a two goal lead. This did not last long, because Pritchard gave away a free kick just outside the area, and Borg curled the ball over the wall into the right side of the net.

Harrison pulled the ball wide from a break by Georgiou before he was replaced by Loft. Walkes produced another defence-splitting ball for Georgiou to run onto and this time the winger did not miss, allowing Spurs to regain their two goal lead.

Loft hit the ball on the turn, hitting the far post from the corner of the area. Walker-Peters then got in on the act, flying forward to receive the ball before drawing a save from the keeper. He followed that with another effort that was wide. Azzaoui was played through the middle but Bogard saved his first effort and then his second before getting across to save at the feet of Loft.

Muscatt came on for Pritchard, going to right back, with Walkes moving into midfield. A good run by Azzaoui to set up Georgiou saw the winger take a couple of touches before firing past the keeper for Spurs' fourth. West Ham took off one of the defensive midfielders to add more weight to their attack and were rewarded when the got a goal back from a corner. Borg found the head of Akinola for their second. They cut the deficit to one in added time when Borg struck another good free kick from slightly further out hitting the right post on the way in.

This was a good win for Spurs as they were under pressure in the first half and, thanks to the visitors failing to score when on top, Spurs started the second half on level terms. The early goal in the second half upset the Hammers' plans and with the inverted wingers they took charge. The closeness of the finish was more down to the dead ball kicking of Borg with his two goals than on the second half as a whole. The win moves Spurs up to joint second in the table ahead of the trip to Norwich on Saturday. Spurs will be looking to do the double over the Norfolk side having beaten them 4-2 on the opening day of the season.

Ray

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