Development Squad Pre-Season Friendly
               Abax Stadium, Peterborough
              Saturday 18h July 2015, 3pm.

            PETERBOROUGH    v     SPURS XI
             (All Blue)         (White/Blue)
               4-2-3-1            4-2-3-1

                 3(1)               2(0)

               Ben Alnwick  1  Thomas Glover
             Michael Smith  2  Anton Walkes
               Kgosi Ntihe  3  Connor Ogilvie
             Jack Collison  4  Filip Lesniak
   Ricardo Almeidwa Santos  5  Dominic Ball
           Gabriel Zakuani  6  Grant Hall(C)
                Jon Taylor  7  Kenneth McEvoy
       Michael Bostwick(C)  8  William Miller
               Joe Gormley  9  Kaziah Sterling
         Connor Washington 10  Cy Goddard
           Marcus Maddison 11  Emmanuel Sonupe

                   Unknown 12  Christopher Paul
                 (2)60Mins     (6)67Mins
         Dion-Curtis Henry 13  Luke Sheldrick
                 (1)60Mins     (1)77Mins.
               Trialist A  14  Milos Veljkovic
                 (3)60Mins     (4)46Mins
             Shaun Brisley 15  Christian Maghoma
                 (5)60Mins     (5)46Mins
         Brad Maslen-Jones 16   Luke Amos
                 (6)60Mins     (8)46Mins
                Joe Newell 17  Ismail Azzaoui
                 (7)60Mins     (11)46Mins
         Jermaine Anderson 18  Shayon Harrison
                 (4)34Mins     (9)46Mins
                Trialist B 19
                 (8)60Mins
            Harry Anderson 20
                 (9)60Mins
              Kyle Vassell 21
                (10)60Mins
                 Lee Angol 22 
                (11)60Mins

Scorers:-
              Gormley 26        Harrison 59
              Washington 48     Azzaoui 77
              Vassell 85

Coaches:-
              D. Robinson       U. Ehiogu

Attendance:- 3852 

Referee:– R. Whitton
Assistants:- A. Da Costa & N. Hair
Fourth Official:– R. Hart

Spurs' Development Squad travelled to Peterborough for the first of two pre-season friendly fixtures. There were no first team players in the squad but some members had first team experience last season out on loan. That included McEvoy who spent most of the season at the Posh scoring one goal in a limited number of appearances before moving to Colchester. He did play for our U-21 side scoring twice. The home side started with our former young keeper Alnwick in a team that that is unbeaten in three pre-season friendlies so far.

Spurs lined up with Glover in goal behind the pairing of Ball and Hall with Walkes at right back and Ogilvie on the left. Lesniak sat in front of them with Miller. Goddard played ahead of them with McEvoy on the right flank and Sonupe on the left in support of Sterling up front.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the East end brightly with an early chance into the area. Sonupe pulled down the cross, shooting on the turn, but he was closed down quickly and his effort was blocked. The home side settled and quickly closed players down, putting in some physical challenges to let our players know they were playing with the big boys now.

McEvoy came under some close attention as they knew what he could do. A quick attack saw former Stevenage man Bostwick fire wide. McEvoy won a corner and when it was delivered via a Peterborough head into the middle it was driven into the goal only for the referee to rule it out for a foul in the build-up. The home side got stronger after this let-off and a long ball found the head of Gormley who headed it back for Washington to volley wide.

Sonupe was providing good ball control on the left, and won a free kick on the edge of the area. Goddard took the kick and curled it over the wall for Alnwick to push over the bar at his near post. Shortly after that, McEvoy rode a couple of challenges to fire wide of the far post. The home side now began to take charge with Maddison on the right looking dangerous. He cut inside and fired over before they opened the scoring. A cross-field ball found Smith on the right and his low centre was converted by Gormley. Maddison had two efforts saved by Glover late in the half while the last chance was a free kick for a foul on McEvoy which was fired over by Miller.

Spurs made most of their changes for the start of the second half. Maghoma replaced Ball at the back. Ball had been spoken to for leaving a foot in that sent Maddison rolling a long way down the line. Veljkovic and Amos replaced Lesniak and Miller in midfield while Sonupe gave way to Azzaoui on the left and Harrison led the line in place of Sterling.

Spurs won a corner early in the half and when Peterborough broke away Amos, as covering defender, was caught in the left back position and his attempted clearance was intercepted by Washington who had a clear run on goal scoring with a low finish.

Spurs began to look better organised as the half progressed and Alnwick saved from McEvoy when he got round the back. Spurs were back in the game when Amos played in Harrison for a low drive. The keeper got a hand to the shot, but could not stop it from going in to his right. That goal led to the home side making ten changes to their team with only the first half sub staying on.

With fresh legs the home side came more into the game and Lee Angol fired over. Hall gave way to Paul who went to right back with Veljkovic dropping into the back four and Walkes moving into midfield. Glover saved from Anderson while Azzaoui was causing the right back problems by coming inside. Goddard, who was wide on the left played Azzaoui through for a chance that flew wide. A foul on Azzaoui saw Goddard test the new keeper with a near-post kick.

Spurs equalised thanks to Azzaoui's persistance. Harrison tried to play him in but the ball was heading out with Maslen-Jones shielding it. Azzaoui did not give up and whipped the ball away from the defender on the line and made an angle for a cool finish.

Spurs made their last change sending on Sheldrick to replace Glover. Following an over-hit corner, McEvoy whipped in a cross to the near post where Maghoma fired wide. New keeper Sheldrick was called into action when Lee Angol (once with the Spurs Academy) controlled a ball up the middle and made room for a shot that the keeper turned round the far post. Unfortunately Peterborough scored from the corner as when it was not cleared Vassell drove low into the net off the far post. With a minute to go Henry got into a mix-up with his defender as he could not pick up his back pass and Azzaoui nipped in to take the ball but the keeper managed to block for a corner. That was the last chance of the game and Peterborough held on for the win.

Only Hall of today's squad was over 21 so this will be nucleus of this season's team in the U-21 league less those that go out on loan. With the likes of Carter-Vickers and Walker-Peters already having played at this level we could have a good squad. All the players did well for their first outing against a strong side that showed them what playing in the league is really compared to the U-21 level. They will be better prepared for their next game at Stevenage in August.

Ray

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