Premier U-21 League 2014-15
                  Lamex Stadium, Stevenage
                Monday 27th April 2015, 7pm

                   SPURS     v   SUNDERLAND
               (White/Blue)    (All Light Blue)
                  4-2-3-1          4-2-3-1

                    0(0)             1(0) 

                 Luke McGee  1  Jordan Pickford
         Kyle Walker-Peters  2  Joshua Robson
             Connor Ogilvie  3  Thomas Robson
              Filip Lesniak  4  Liam Agnew(C)
          Christian Maghoma  5  Andrew Cartwright
          Milos Veljkovic(C) 6  Thomas Beading
             William Miller  7  Lynden Gooch
                Harry Winks  8  Martin Smith
            Shayon Harrison  9  Mikael Mandron
              Joshua Onomah 10  George Honeyman
               Nathan Oduwa 11  Duncan Watmore

             Kenneth McEvoy 12  Andrew Nelson
                  (7)59Mins
             Jonathan Miles 13  Peter Burke
              Aaron McEneff 14  Rees Greenwood
                  (4)73Mins     (9)85Mins
          Zenon Stylianides 15  Dan Casey
                  (5)73Mins
                            16  Jordan Blinco

Scorers:-
                                Watmore 47 

Coach:-
          U. Ehiogu             R. Stockdale

Attendance:- 414

Ref:– J. Busby
Assistants:– C. Kidd & S. Piret
Fourth Official:– D. Steele

It was a chilly evening for the visit of Sunderland to the Lamex Stadium in Stevenage. Sunderland arrived on a three game unbeaten run with a 2-0 win at Fulham in their last game while Spurs have not won in five games which has seen them drop from second to sixth.

Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind Veljkovic and Maghoma with Walker-Peters at right back and Ogilvie on the left. Lesniak and Winks played in front of them with Onomah behind Harrison up front flanked by Miller on his right and Oduwa on his left. Veljkovic on loan at Middlesborough has just come back from injury while McEneff has also recovered from injury and started on the bench. Stylianides was rewarded for his good performance against Manchester United in the U-18's on saturday with a place on the bench.

Spurs kicked off attacking the South end but found the "Black Cats" not allowing them to run past them, preventing their pass and move game. With such tight marking it was just a matter of the visitors waiting for Spurs to make a mistake. Maghoma turned a free kick from Winks wide before Oduwa rode two tackles to get into the area on the left and put in a cross shot that was cleared at the far post. Winks played in Onomah but he was tackled as he was about to shoot.

Cartwright drew a good save from McGee when he fired back a half clearance from over 20 yards for another corner. Watmore fired a free kick over before Winks hit a free kick well over after Oduwa was fouled just outside the area. Watmore got down the left and his deflected cross was met by Mandron who fired straight at McGee.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Spurs win an early corner on the left. Pickford caught the ball at his far post and released it quickly for Honeyman on the right to get past the last man and centre for the advancing Watmore to score past the exposed McGee.

Oduwa made ground on the left and when his cross was deflected it dropped nicely for Winks to hit it on the volley and force a good save from Pickford. With Spurs trying to push forward Sunderland looked to pick them off and Watmore fired over. From a corner Cartwright fired over before Spurs made their first change with McEvoy replacing Miller on the right. He quickly made runs down the right getting crosses over and getting round the back but the visitors defended them well.

Winks' chipped forward pass found Onomah in the area and his effort was saved for a corner by the keeper. Maghoma turned McEvoy's kick wide. Winks found McEvoy with a long diagonal ball for the winger to get a low shot into the near post that was saved by Pickford.

Watmore played a one two with Robson and dribbled to the near post but was stopped by McGee for a corner. Harrison just beat Pickford to a loose ball but hurried his effort which was wide of the far post. Spurs then made a double substitution with McEneff replacing Lesniak and Stylianides coming on for Veljkovic going to left back to allow Ogilvie to move inside.

Watmore got through again to draw a save from McGee. McEneff gave the ball to Winks who slotted it through to Stylianides who had made a run into the area but his effort was blocked. Spurs were pushing players forward as Sunderland began to drop deep and nearly got caught again when Watmore broke down the left and was forced across the pitch when McGee came out quickly. The Sunderland player got round the right and pulled the ball back for Greenwood who was dispossessed before he could shoot. With the visitors running down the clock McEneff had a long range effort saved before Oduwa got down the left riding two tackles and whipping in a cross that was put out for a corner. That was the last chance of the game.

It was a poor performance from Spurs which was mainly due to the pressure put on them by the visitors and they never really got going. Oduwa did make a few runs which Cartwright usually stopped with a heavy tackle followed by some verbals which suggests he does not like our wideman. McEvoy provided width on the right when he came on but Harrison was well marshalled in the centre and any late runs were blocked. The defeat sees Sunderland move above Spurs who drop to ninth a point behind next weeks opponents Manchester City. This game has now been moved to Monday afternoon after the orginal Sunday date was changed to Saturday following Sky choosing the Spurs v City game for that Sunday. You do need to keep checking the website as changes happen at short notice.

Ray

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