Premier U-21 League 2014-15
                Motspur Park, Surrey
           Saturday 13th December 2014, 1pm

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

                0(0)              2(1)

           Magnus Norman  1  Luke McGee
                Noe Baba  2  Anton Walkes
            Jordan Evans  3  Kyle Walker-Peters
          Solomon Sambou  4  Filip Lesniak
          Jonathan Buatu  5  Bongani Khumalo(C)
         Cameron Burgess  6  Cameron Carter-Vickers
          Thomas Eisfeld  7  Kenneth McEvoy
         Dean O'Halloran  8  Harry Winks
            Adam Taggart  9  Nathan Oduwa
        Christofer David 10  Joshua Onomah
     Ange-Freddy Plumain 11  William Miller

             Geoff Warne 12  Daniel Akindayini
                             (11)68Mins
                         13  Jonathan Miles
  Buomesca Tue Na Bangna 14  Emmanuel Sonupe
               (9)46Mins     (9)75Mins
            Tom Richards 15  Luke Amos
               (8)46Mins     (2)80Mins.
            Joshua Smile 16 

Scorer:-
                             Oduwa 34
                             Akindayini 70 

Coaches:- 
            P. Grant         U. Ehiogu 

Ref:– J. Cooper
Assistants:- M. Carmichaei & D. Johnson
Fourth Official:– M. Ford

It was a bright sunny afternoon, although still chilly, for Spurs' trip to Fulham. Fulham were below Spurs by a single goal difference and had the opportunity of going second in the table if the results went their way. Spurs' position was due to victory over Manchester City 2-1 at Stevenage, while Fulham beat West Hame 3-2.

Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind Khumalo and Carter-Vickers with Walkes at right back and Walker-Peters on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Onomah and Winks who had both travelled to Turkey, Joshua making the bench. Miller played in the middle of the front three with McEvoy, on loan at Peterbrough, on the right and Oduwa on the left.

Spurs defended the South end with the sun behind them in the first half and soon got their passing game together making good inroads into the home defence. The first chance fell to Onomah in the fifth minute but his effort was blocked for a corner. From the corner, taken by McEvoy, the captain, Khumalo, had a chance blocked. Winks had a long range effort saved before McEvoy created a chance for Miller having been sent away down the right.

Eisfeld played a short corner, before putting the ball into the box for Buatu to bring out a good save from McGee. Winks played the ball out to McEvoy who cut inside and curled a left footed effort wide of the far post. Miller laid off the ball for Onomah to fire over before he saw another effort tipped over the bar for a corner. Winks saw his effort go wide for a corner before Miller drew a save from the keeper.

A long range effort from David was saved by McGee before the visitors took the lead. Oduwa, who was out on the left, curled the ball to the far post and it dipped under the bar into the top corner.

Fulham responded with long balls over the top. Plumain ran onto the first at the far post but McGee saved his effort. When Baba flighted the ball to the far post again, Plumain hit it over from under the bar. When Oduwa put over a cross from the left Winks stooped to head it against the near post and was quickest to reach the rebound but headed wide. Onomah had another effort go wide before the break.

Fulham made two changes for the start of the second half, but this did not affect the flow of Spurs' attacking football. Norman saved from Miller for a corner early on and Oduwa got to the line and whipped a low cross that McEvoy turned wide of the far post. Akindayini replaced Miller up front and scored with almost his first touch. Onomah spotted his run into the right channel and played the ball into him from the halfway line.

After Oduwa was replaced on the left by Sonupe, Spurs almost got a third. Akindayini played the ball to Lesniak making a run into the area. The midfielder appeared to have beaten Norman with a shot across him. It looked like the ball hit the far post before being put out for a corner. Sonupe drew a save from the keeper before Spurs made their last change replacing Walkes with Amos at right back with ten minutes to go.

David dribbled in from the right before curling his effort wide of the far post. Amos played in Akindayini for a chance that was saved, before Walker-Peters, attacking down the left, played him in, but his effort was wide. Spurs took their foot off the gas as they sought to see out the game, allowing Fulham to make some chances to score. Richards was played in by Evans but fired wide. David fired well wide, before Eisfeld also shot wide. The last chance fell to Eisfeld, who collected a free kick by David to force a save from McGee.

This was a good performance by Spurs who move to the top of the table because the Manchester derby was called off. Spurs are a point ahead of both Manchester clubs and Southampton. They may not stay top over Christmas as Southampton and Everton have a chance to go above them. It was good to see McEvoy back even if he was a little out of synch with the rest of the team.

Spurs next game will be on the 5th January when they play Everton at Stevenage. This game will be quickly followed by a trip to Rush Green to play West Ham.

Ray

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