Premier U-21 League 1, 2014-15
                  Carrow Road, Norwich
            Tuesday 14th October 2014, 7.45pm.

               NORWICH CITY  v   SPURS
              (Yellow/Green)  (White/Blue)
                  4-4-2          4-3-3

                   3(2)           1(0)

                Declan Rudd  1    Luke McGee
         Reece Hall-Johnson  2    Kyle Walker-Peters
              Harry Toffolo  3    Alex McQueen
              Raymond Grant  4    William Miller
              Kyle McFaddon  5    Connor Ogilvie
              Ignasi Miquel  6    Christian Maghoma
          Elliott Bennett(C) 7    Emmanuel Sonupe
          Connor McGrandles  8    Ruben Lameiras
                Gary Hooper  9    Daniel Akindayini
               Cameron King 10    Joshua Onomah
              Calton Morris 11    Cristian Ceballos

               Loius Ramsey 12    Luke Amos
                                  (4)83Mins
                 Ben Killip 13    Jonathan Miles
               Michee Efete 14    Joseph Pritchard
                  (4)61Mins       (7)74Mins
          Benny Ashley-Seal 15    Anthony Georgiou
                 (10)79Mins       (9)79Mins
             Cameron Norman 16 
                 (11)88Mins

Scorers:- 
          Morris 3                Ceballos 56
          King 36, 80 

Booked:-  
      Bennett 45+1(Holding)       Sonupe 42(Late)
     McGrandles 68(Holding)       Maghoma 66(Holding)

Coaches:- 
          J. Gill                 U. Ehiogu 

Attendance:– 10,405(League record)

Referee:– J. O'Brien
Assistants:- T. Hancock & R. Hart
Fourth Official:– C. Fitch

Spurs travelled to Norfolk with a depleted squad due to the International break which gave some of our U-18 players a chance to impress. It was a cool evening following rain that allowed the crowd – a record for this new league - to watch in comfort. Spurs gave a first start to academy scholar Christian Maghoma and the returning Connor Ogilvie as regular centre backs Ball and Veljkovic were on international duty. Kyle Walker-Peters made his second start having being picked for England U-18. Norwich had the luxury of former Celtic striker Gary Hooper and the experienced Elliott Bennett.

Spurs lined up with McGee behind Maghoma and Ogilvie with Walker-Peters at right back and McQueen on the left. Miller anchored the midfield with Onomah and Lameiras in support of Akindayini leading the line, with Sonupe on his right and Ceballos on his left. On the short bench were Amos, Pritchard and Georgiou who all featured in Saturday's academy game.

Spurs defended the north end in the first half which saw a lively fast paced game. Spurs sought to build from the back while the "Canaries" got the ball forward quickly. Norwich's first chance saw the ball played out to Toffolo and his cross was headed by Morris into the goal off Ogilvie.

With most of the early play being in midfield as the teams probed each others' defences Spurs' first chance fell to Onomah firing wide from a Ceballos pass. The play settled into Spurs trying to move the ball quickly from the back while Norwich played ball up to the front pair with the midfield making late runs in support. It was soon obvious that the Norwich tactics were working better than those of the visitors, as the Norwich defence closed down quickly and the front pair pulled the Spurs centre-backs all over the place creating space for the midfield runners.

Morris got in front of Maghoma to draw a save from McGee. McGee had to save a drive by Toffolo when the ball was only half-cleared. Ceballos fired wide and then Sonupe was played through by Akindayini from a pass by Onomah but he fired wide. McGee saved twice from Morris. The first was an overhead kick and the second a diving header from a Bennett cross. Bennett also provided the cross for McGrandles' effort which was saved.

A break on the left by Morris saw his cross just missed by Hooper in front of goal. The ball was retrieved by Hall-Johnson and his cross was met by Morris. McGee saved his effort but King followed up to head home.

Sonupe fired wide before King forced a corner from McGee's save. Akindayini saw his effort blocked for a corner from which Rudd saved from his own defender. Miller drove wide from that corner. Sonupe was booked for a late tackle on Hall-Johnson. Ceballos fired wide before Bennett was booked for a foul chasing Sonupe in added time.

There were no changes at the start of the second half but Spurs moved McQueen into the middle of the defence and Ogilvie to left back. Norwich had an early chance when a long ball over the defence saw McGee come out to clear but it only fell to Miquel who hit it wide of the open goal.

Miller saw his effort blocked with Ogilvie firing over from the follow up. Sonupe, on another run, was pulled back by Toffolo for a free kick which was played short to Ceballos. The Spaniard turned and moved the ball to his left, before striking it past the diving Rudd to pull Spurs back into the game.

Maghoma fouled Hooper as he got past McQueen on the right to go into the ref's book. It was what we think of as a professional foul which is what McGrandles did minutes later when Sonupe was about to get into the area. He pulled him down and was also booked.

Norwich broke from a Spurs corner and after Onomah missed his clearance, the home side scored through King to regain their two goal lead. Spurs made two changes with Pritchard replacing Sonupe and then Georgiou (making his first appearance) for Akindayini. Spurs began to push for another goal as Norwich sought to see out the game. Pritchard had a header saved from Georgiou's cross. Amos came on for Miller as Spurs made their last change. Ceballos fired over from a free kick in the last minute. There was still time for Spurs as McFadden fouled Ceballos just outside the area for a last free kick. Rudd saved from Onomah's kick to seal the home side's win.

Spurs' inexperience was exploited by a more experienced Norwich side. They showed some good attacking play but the advanced full-backs left the centre-backs exposed. Sonupe's pace upfront drew fouls from Norwich but the referee did not show the yellow card enough for my liking. After a poor first half Spurs' defence improved in the second and that helped with the attacking play. Ogilvie looked better at full back. Maghoma had a tricky start at this level while the rest of the academy players did okay when they came on. It does show that we are a little short of players in the squad with loan moves and international call-ups.

Norwich move up level with Spurs in the table and Spurs will need to improve before their next game which will be against Chelsea at Stevenage on the 27th October.

Ray

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