Premier U-21 League 2015-16
           Lamex Stadium, Broadhall Way, Stevenage
               Monday 11th January 2016, 7.30pm

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

                  4(1)              5(2)

             Thomas Glover  1  Bradley Collins
                 Luke Amos  2  Fankaty Dabo
          Anthony Georgiou  3  Fikayo Tomori
             Filip Lesniak  4  Jake Clarke-Salter
        Milos Veljkovic (C) 5  Jay DaSilva
    Cameron Carter-Vickers  6  Charlie Colkett(C)
           Andros Townsend  7  Reece Mitchell
               Harry Winks  8  Mukhtar Ali
       Shaquile Coulthirst  9  Tammy Abraham
              Anton Walkes 10  Kasey Palmer
            William Miller 11  Charly Musonda

           Emmanuel Sonupe 12  Alex Kiwomya
                 (4)57Mins     (8)46Mins
                Harry Voss 13  James Russell
          Joseph Pritchard 14  Kevin Wright
                (10)73Mins
                Cy Goddard 15  Josimar Quintero
                (11)81Mins
                           16  Joseph Colley

Scorers:-
      Coulthirst 19, 71        Abraham 18
      Townsend 85(pen), 87     Tomori 21
                               Palmer 47
                               DaSilva 81
                               Clarke-Salter 90+3 

Booked:-
      Georgiou 78(Pull)

Coach:-
      U. Ehiogo                A. Viveash

Referee:– I. Rathbone
Assistants:– E. Clark & R. Evans
Fourth Official:– C. O'Donnell

It was a cold evening for the Sky Sport cameras for the visit of Chelsea to Stevenage. Last season the cameras were also present at Staines Town for the away game against Chelsea which was a 0-0 draw. Spurs lost their last game away to Manchester United 3-1 while Chelsea beat Middlesbrough 1-0.

Spurs lined up with Glover in goal behind Carter-Vickers and Veljkovic with Amos at right back in the absence of Walker-Peters and Georgiou on the left. Lesniak and Winks lined up in front of them with Walkes behind Coulthirst up front flanked by Townsend on the right and Miller on the left.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the South end and had the first chance in a fast moving game when Walkes drew a save following a Townsend free kick. Chelsea took the lead when they won the ball on the right and Mitchell crossed for Abraham to score from close in. The lead did not last long as Coulthirst scored with a looping header from Georgiou's cross.

The visitors regained the lead two minutes later from a corner headed back into the middle by Clarke-Salter at the far post for his partner Tomori to head in. When Winks was fouled just outside the area Townsend hit the free kick low but wide of the right post. A Townsend cross was only half cleared to Miller but his effort was blocked. Winks played in Coulthirst with a good through ball but he fired wide under pressure. The last chance of the half came when Townsend again crossed with Coulthirst driving wide.

Chelsea made one change for the start of the second half bringing on Kiwomya to attack down the right which led to the next goal early into the half. Having got down the right the ball was played into Abraham on the edge of the area and he slipped it inside to Palmer who had time to turn and hit it into the far corner to increase the visitors' lead. This gave them confidence to go for more with Kiwomya played through on the right by Palmer to fire over. Kiwomya also had an effort blocked when Abraham's attempt was deflected.

Clarke-Salter drove wide from a corner before Spurs made their first change, replacing Lesniak with Sonupe to work the left flank and moving Miller inside. Collins saved a long range effort from Townsend before Spurs pulled a goal back. Veljkovic carried the ball forward before playing it into the path of Coulthirst who was able to get behind the defence before firing past Collins.

Pritchard then replaced Walkes as Spurs looked for an equaliser. Glover saved from Abraham before Sonupe put in a ball from the left which just failed to find Pritchard. Sonupe cut inside and fired in a shot that Collins could not hold. Coulthirst followed up, but saw his effort blocked for a corner. With Spurs pushing forward Collins saved from Sonupe and when they tried to counter Georgiou was booked for pulling back the player.

Colkett fired over as the game became more end to end and DaSilva struck a great goal from the edge of the area to make the score 4-2. Spurs made their last change with Goddard coming on for Miller and he won a penalty soon after coming on when Tomori fouled him. Coulthirst wanted to take the kick but Townsend over-ruled him and scored hitting the ball high to the keepers left.

The referee allowed play to continue after Palmer had fouled two Spurs players in the centre circle which allowed Townesnd to get the ball on the right and advance before shooting low into the far side of the net to bring the scores level at 4-4 with only minutes to go. Both sides went for the winner with Mitchell firing wide and Glover saving from Abraham but Chelsea got the winner deep into added time when Clarke-Salter fired home as Spurs failed to clear a cross.

The goal fest must have been good for the TV audience but a nightmare for the coaches with Spurs so nearly saving a point that would have kept them in third place in the table. This was the first time that Chelsea have beaten Spurs at this level since the start of the U-21 League and their first back to back win this season moving them up to seventh while Spurs drop to fourth. Next week Spurs entertain Manchester City at Stevenage. City lost to Everton this evening.

Ray

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