Premier U-21 League 2014-15
             Old Trafford, Manchester
           Tuesday 10th March 2015, 7pm.

             MAN UTD    v     SPURS
           (Red/White)     (White/Blue)
              4-3-3           4-3-3

               1(1)            1(1)

         Victor Valdes  1 Luke McGee
       Rafael da Silva  2 Kyle Walker-Peters
           Donald Love  3 Connor Ogilvie
          Tom Thorpe(C) 4 Filip Lesniak
           Reece James  5 Bongani Khumalo(C)
         Liam Grimshaw  6 Cameron Carter-Vickers
             Sean Goss  7 Kenneth McEvoy
          Joe Rothwell  8 Grant Ward
        Radamel Falcao  9 Shaquile Coulthirst
       Andreas Pereira 10 Joshua Onomah
          James Wilson 11 William Miller

         Joshua Harrop 12 Aaron McEneff
             (9)71Mins    (4)86Mins
         Kieran O'Hara 13 Jonathan Miles
          Andy Kellett 14 Daniel Akindayini
             (5)62Mins    (9)79Mins
       Matthew Willock 15 Alex McQueen
         Axel Tuanzebe 16 Luke Amos
             (8)84Mins    (10)72Mins

Scorers:-
       Rafael 31          McEvoy 26 

Booked:-
       Love 42(Foul)

Coaches:-
       W. Joyce           U. Ehiogu 

Referee:– A. Scregg
Assistants:- D. Rogers & M. Crusham
Fourth Official:– C. Bega

It was a chilly evening at "The Theatre of Dreams" for a meeting of the top two teams in the league. Spurs had won their last game 4-0 against Everton to catch Manchester United at the top of the League who had drawn their last two. In the press room we had the Arsenal left-overs from the Cup tie the previous evening. At least the biscuits were fresh.

Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind Khumalo and Carter-Vickers with Walker-Peters at right back and Ogilvie on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Onomah and Ward while Coulthirst led the line with McEvoy on the right and Miller on the left. With so many development players out on loan it was good to see McEvoy and Coulthirst allowed to play. United as so often had first team squad players in the team and this evening was no exception. Along with Rafael and Valdes, Monaco striker Falcao started having sat on the bench the previous evening. United also included James Wilson, who has plenty of first team experience this season.

Spurs kicked off attacking the Stretford End and soon won a free kick when a Walker-Peters run was ended on the edge of the area. The free kick by Ward was well over. Falcao failed to control the ball which came out to Goss who drove wide. Rafael put in a cross that Falcao failed to reach before Goss drew a save from McGee. Onomah fired over before Wilson saw his effort deflected wide by Falcao in an offside position.

From a corner James fired wide before a pass inside by Rothwell was intercepted by McEvoy who got into the area with only the keeper to beat. The winger curled the ball into the far corner of the net. Spurs had a chance to increase their lead when Coulthirst got to the far post and fired back across the goal with the ball deflected wide for a corner.

Spurs then shot themselves in the foot. McGee collected a poor header by Falcao and tried to start an attack by throwing the ball out to Onomah only to see it go to Rafael. The Brazilian full back quickly returned the ball over the stranded keeper to equalise for the home side. Spurs responded with Miller firing wide from a Coulthirst pass. Pereira cut inside to fire over before Love stopped Ward in his tracks to prevent him getting into the area to receive the only booking of the match. The last chance of the half fell to Pereira who again stepped inside before firing over.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Pereira draw a save from McGee before Spurs came close to getting a second goal. Spurs had a free kick on the right side which was taken by Miller and played into the feet of Coulthirst in the right corner of the area. McEvoy had made a run into the area picking up the ball from Coulthirst and continued to the line before crossing to the near post. Carter-Vickers rose at the near post to head the ball onto the face of the crossbar, before it was cleared for a corner.

Another right sided run by McEvoy saw him pull the ball back for Miller to draw a save from Valdes. McGee saved from Wilson before Coulthirst drove wide. Rafael got down the right and pulled the ball back for Goss to drive low only for McGee to save when the sting had been taken out of the shot.

United made their first change as they began to put pressure on the visitors. Wilson saw his header saved by McGee before firing wide with another effort. Falcao was replaced to ironic cheers from the United faithful and Spurs replaced Onomah with Amos as a second defensive midfielder switching to 4-2-3-1. The two United subs combined to draw a save from McGee when Kellett played in Harrop. Akindayini replaced Coulthirst up front as the game drifted to a draw. United had one more chance when Pereira squared to Kellett who then played in Harrop only for his effort to be blocked by Ogilvie. Spurs made a last change with McEneff replacing Lesniak in front of the defence as they saw out the game.

The game finished with honours even and both sides move a point ahead of Liverpool who had won the Merseyside Derby the previous evening. Neither side dominated the other while both goals came from mistakes. Spurs can take comfort in going closest when hitting the woodwork. While Spurs have a game in hand over the leaders, ominously Liverpool have a game in hand over them.

The next game for the development squad is the home game against Norwich which will be played at Hotspur Way next week. A Monday afternoon kick-off means that Onomah, Walker-Peters and Carter-Vickers will not play as they will be going to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening for the Youth Cup-tie.

Ray

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