FA Youth Cup 4th Round
               Victoria Road, Dagenham
            Thursday 22nd January 2015, 7pm

                SPURS     v  WOLVERHAMPTON
             (White/Blue)    (Gold/Black)
                4-3-3           4-5-1

                 2(1)            0(0) 

              Harry Voss  1  Harry Burgoyne
      Kyle Walker-Peters  2  Tendai Matinyadze
          Joseph Muscatt  3  Connor Johnson
               Luke Amos  4  Ross Finnie
         Japhet Tanganga  5  Aaron Hayden
            Anton Walkes  6  Regan Upton(C)
        Anthony Georgiou  7  Melchi Leacork-McCleod
         Joshua Onomah(C) 8  Ryan Rainey
         Shayon Harrison  9  Bright Enobakhare
              Cy Goddard 10  Connor Ronan
          Ismail Azzaoui 11  Connor Hunte

       Zenon Stylianides 12  Anthony Breslin
           Thomas Glover 13  Rhys Bills
               Ryan Loft 14  Jesse Devers
              (11)72Mins     (4)72Mins
          Marcus Edwards 15  Nicolae Carnat
               (9)79Mins     (7)64Mins
           Charlie Owens 16  Joseph Delacoe
              (10)65Mins     (11)77Mins

Scorers:-
  Azzaoui 10
  Walker-Peters 62 

Booked:-
  Walker-Peters 35(Foul)     Finnie 16(Foul)
  Muscatt 51(Foul)
  Amos 55(Holding) 

Coach:-
  K. McKenna                 R. Edwards

Attendance:- 527

Referee:– A. Young
Assistants:– T. Hancock & J. Marin
Fourth Official:– S. Bates

It was a cold evening in Essex for this home tie against Wolves who beat Rotherham in the last round. Spurs have just returned from playing in tournaments in Florida and Malaysia where the weather was a lot warmer than here.Due to trouble on the M25 I got into the ground just as the first goal went in.

They had run out of teamsheets as they did in the last round against Blackburn but a kind soul gave me theirs. Spurs lined up with Voss in goal behind Walkes and Tanganga with Walker-Peters at right back and Muscatt on the left. Amos anchored the midfield with Onomah and Goddard alongside him. Harrison led the line with Georgoiu on his right and Azzaoui on his left. I hope Spurs make a lot more teamsheets available for the next round as there were a lot of people without one this evening. Wolves brought two coach loads of fans and the 1882 group were in good voice. Ledley King was also on the bench giving support.

I was told that Azzaoui was played in by Onomah for the opening goal which he finished well in a game that developed into a good attacking game with both sides using the width of the pitch. The Wolves wingers made good strong runs but failed to find a gold shirt in the area where Tanganga was impressive.

Azzaoui and Georgiou did the same for Spurs while having to ride strong tackling from the visitors. It was not surprising that the first booking was for a foul by a Wolves player even though the ref allowed plenty to go with just a warning. Finnie was the culprit for a late tackle.

Walker-Peters was next into the book when he tripped Enobakhare after he was turned near the halfway line. When Walker-Peters was tripped just outside the visitors area, having beat his man, the offender did not go into the book as one would have expected. Spurs came close to doubling their lead from a corner in the 41st minute. Walkes had an effort blocked which was followed by Tanganga who was also blocked before the ball found its way to Azzaoui on the far side. The winger cut inside and moved the ball to his left foot but his effort struck the post.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Spurs putting more pressure on the visitors' defence but picking up two yellow cards from counter attacks by Wolves. Muscatt was booked for knocking Leacork-McCleod into touch as he went shoulder to shoulder. Amos pulled back Rainey as he threatened to go through the middle for his booking.

Walker-Peters crossed to the far post for Azzaoui to get round the back. His shot was saved by Burgoyne with the follow up by Goddard blocked. Muscatt and Azzaoui worked the ball down the left before working to Goddard who slipped in in for Walker-Peters to get round the back and drive in for Spurs' second.

Wolves had a chance to pull a goal back quickly but it was driven wide. Spurs replaced Goddard with Owens as they sought to see out the game but an injury to Azzaoui meant that Loft came on for the winger. Georgiou switched to the left flank and Harrison moved to the right side with Loft going up front.

Loft was soon making his presence felt, drawing a save and also challenging the keeper when he spooned an effort into the air. The keeper's weak punch fell to Owens on the edge of the area but he fired over. Edwards replaced Harrison on the right and his trickery opened up the Wolves defence a couple of times. With Spurs looking to see out the game, Wolves made a couple chances before the end with Rainey heading over from a free kick and Voss saving a weak effort by Carnat before the final whistle.

Wolves proved to be tough opponents who restricted Spurs to few chances in the game as they held them in the middle third for most of the time. Spurs looked the better team but Wolves prevented them from playing their usual passing game. Just like Sheffield United at WHL the previous evening they were relying on winning possession high up the field but were not good enough to make it count.

Spurs will meet Manchester United in the next round after they beat Hull 3-0. When and where will be sorted out later. Such a game should be played at WHL as there will be a good crowd. Wherever they play it I hope the club produces more teamsheets than they did tonight.

Ray

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