Premier U-21 League 2014-15
             Hotspur Way, Bull Cross, Enfield
                Monday 16th March 2015, 2pm

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

                   0(0)              2(1)

                Luke McGee  1 Remi Matthews
            DeAndre Yedlin  2 Reece Hall-Johnson
            Connor Ogilvie  3 Michee Efete
             Aaron McEneff  4 Conor McGrandles
             Filip Lesniak  5 Carl McFadden(C)
              Alex McQueen  6 Ryan Bennett
         Cristian Ceballos  7 Cameron Norman
             Harry Winks(C) 8 Ray Grant
         Daniel Akindayini  9 Carlton Morris
            William Miller 10 Louis Ramsey
            Kenneth McEvoy 11 Sam Kelly

          Christopher Paul 12 Kofi Boateng
                 (4)12Mins
            Jonathan Miles 13 Ben Killip
               Armani Daly 14 George Couzens
                 (2)73Mins    (9)75Mins
                 Ryan Loft 15 Harley Black
                 (7)80Mins    (7)87Mins

Scorers:-
                              McFadden 4
                              Efete 78 

Booked:-
          Ceballos 17(Late)   Norman 25(Foul)
          McGee 87(Dissent)

Coach:-
          U. Ehiogu           P. Wilkinson

Referee:– R. Atkin
Assistants:– E. Moore & N. Phillips

It was a cold afternoon for the visit of Norwich City to Hotspur Way. Norwich were on a run of four unbeaten games, and had beaten Spurs at Carrow Road 3-1 back in October. With the movement of players out on loan and the up-coming Youth Cup tie on Wednesday, Spurs fielded a young side with Academy players on the bench.

Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind McQueen and Lesniak with Yedlin at right back and Ogilvie on the left. McEneff anchored the midfield with Winks and Miller while Akindayini led the line with Ceballos on his right and McEvoy on the left. Paul and Loft made their first appearance on the subs' bench, joining Daly who has not played at this level either. Norwich had eight players from the home win plus the experienced Bennett in defence.

Spurs defended the South end in the first half and found themselves under pressure from a big strong physically imposing "Canaries"' side. Norwich won a corner on the right which was flighted to the far post where their big players attacked the ball and McFadden headed home.

McEneff went down with an ankle injury which took a few minutes to treat before he was replaced by Paul. The youngster went to left back with Ogilvie moving inside and Lesniak taking the defensive midfield role. There was another stoppage shortly after when Ceballos caught Hall-Johnson late for which the little Spaniard was booked.

Norwich had set themselves up to stop Spurs playing their passing football usually using their body strength to block runs. When Yedlin got past Norman on the right the midfielder took him out to go into the ref's book. Miller drew a save from Matthews having got on the end of Yedlin's cross. McGee saved from McGrandles for a corner before McEvoy crossed for Winks to head wide. Yedlin picked up a half clearance and drove in a low shot which was blocked by Akindayini. In added time Ceballos had a shot saved and Winks fired wide.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Spurs start well. Paul had a drive saved at the near post and from a free kick Matthews saved a header by Ogilvie for a corner. Yedlin was caught badly by Efete, and he took a while to recover. That was as good as it got for Spurs as the visitors took control.

A quick break saw Kelly with only the keeper to beat but he fired wide. McGrandles saw his effort saved by McGee as Spurs were pushed back. Norman fired a free kick over while another kick was headed wide by McFadden. Ceballos fired wide from distance before Spurs made their second change taking Yedlin off for Daly with McEvoy dropping to right back.

Norwich took off Morris for the less imposing Couzens. Norwich got their second goal from another corner. Grant swung it to the far post where McFadden headed it back. Couzens' back header in front of McGee looked as if it had gone in but Efete claimed the final touch. McGee made a double save, firstly from Norman and then foiling Ramsey following up. Spurs made their last change replacing Ceballos with Loft. Before the game re-started the ref went back to McGee and showed him a yellow card for something he must have said. Norwich saw out the remaining time making another change before Norman drew a save with the last kick of the match.

This was not a good performance by Spurs as Norwich out-muscled them in all areas of the pitch not allowing them to play their normal game. Spurs have not had a settled side, and with so much movement of players it finally told today. United move three points clear with a win at Goodison but Liverpool failed to take advantage by losing at Southampton. The Saints and Norwich both go above Spurs who drop to fourth. Spurs will hope to get back to winning ways with next week's trip to Leicester when Onomah and Carter-Vickers should return.

Ray

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