Premier U-21 League 2015-16
                  Hotspur Way, Enfield
            Monday 10th August 2015, 12 noon

                SPURS     v     EVERTON
             (White/Blue)    (Blue/White)
               4-1-4-1          4-4-1-1

                 4(3)             1(1) 

             Hugo Lloris  1  Mateusz Hewelt
      Kyle Walker-Peters  2  Gethin Jones
          Connor Ogilvie  3  Antonee Robinson
           Filip Lesniak  4  Liam Walsh
            Dominic Ball  5  Matthew Pennington(C)
Cameron Carter-Vickers(C) 6  Callum Connolly
          Ismail Azzaoui  7  Joe Williams
         Shayon Harrison  8  Tom Davies
     Shaquile Coulthirst  9  Sam Byrne
          Alex Pritchard 10  Anthony Evans
            Nathan Oduwa 11  Conor Grant

       Christian Maghoma 12  Ryan Ledson
              Harry Voss 13  Jindrich Stane
               Luke Amos 14  Harry Charleley
              (10)46Mins     (10)83Mins
         Emmanuel Sonupe 15  Michael Donohue
              (11)64Mins     (8)67Mins
          Kenneth McEvoy 16  James Yates
               (7)64Mins

Scorers:-
        Pritchard 20, 26     Byrne 43
        Oduwa 44
        Coulthirst 89 

Booked:-
        Amos 79(Foul)        Walsh 19(Foul)

Coach:-
        U. Ehiogu            D. Unsworth

Referee:– C. Brook
Assistants:– M. Bloor & A. Foster

Spurs opened their new season with a home game against Everton at Hotspur Way. Last season Spurs had an easy 4-0 victory at Hotspur Way with all the goals coming in the first half. Everton were Spurs' last opponents last season when Spurs lost at Goodison Park 3-1 in May. Spurs had most of the possession on the day but were caught out by the"Toffees"' counter-attacking game. Nine of those Everton players appeared today while three Spurs players were involved in that game. The game was played on the first team pitch and we were able to see some of the first team squad after they had finished their session but they had gone by the final whistle.

Spurs lined up with Lloris in goal behind Ball and Carter-Vickers with Walker-Peters at right back and Ogilvie on the left. Lesniak sat in front of them while Harrison and Pritchard were further forward with Azzaoui wide right and Oduwa on the left in support of Coulthirst up front.

Spurs defended the West end in the first half which saw the visitors sitting deep looking to counter as they normally do and not allowing Spurs any room when they went forward. This meant that they conceded a lot of free kicks with the first in the second minute when Carter-Vickers headed over from Pritchard's kick. Hewelt saved from Coulthirst minutes later and Ogilvie headed a corner wide at the far post.

Walsh conceded a free kick 25 yards out which Pritchard hit over the wall but the keeper saved to his left. Walsh was booked for another foul a little closer to goal which Pritchard took as well. This time he beat Hewelt after the ball may have been deflected by the wall.

Spurs kept the pressure on and Pritchard ran onto the ball in the area to fire across the keeper into the net for his and Spurs second. Lloris made his first save of the game when Grant shot from distance. Hugo's only previous need for action was to come out quickly for a ball over the top.

Pritchard had another effort saved before Jones got through to fire wide. Byrne beat the offside trap to score past a stranded Lloris with the defence pushing up. Spurs quickly regained their two goal lead when Oduwa made a run down the right before cutting inside to beat Hewelt with a low finish. Lloris saved from Grant in added time.

Amos replaced Pritchard for the second half and played alongside Lesniak as Spurs changed to a 4-2-3-1 formation playing a little deeper. Grant drew an early save from Lloris before Spurs replaced both wide men twenty minutes in.

Sonupe fired wide for a corner before Coulthirst also shot wide. With Everton still looking to Counter quickly, Amos was booked for a foul after a long spell of play so I could not see what it was for.

Spurs continued to push forward in numbers while Everton continued to try and counter quickly when recovering the ball. On one such occasion, Charleley draw a save from Lloris.

As the game entered the last ten minutes Coulthirst went looking for a goal to get on the scoresheet and fired wide before latching onto a forward pass by Harrison to score - firing across the keeper. With the game going into added time, Coulthirst drove wide and Grant saw his effort deflected over for a corner.

This was a good win for Spurs over a strong defensive team who did not put Ball or Carter-Vickers under much pressure. It was also an easy outing for Lloris in goal. Pritchard had a good 45 minutes showing his qualities and getting on the score sheet twice. Spurs made good use of the flanks with the wide men well supported by the full backs.

The development side travel to Manchester on Friday to play City and are likely to rotate many of todays side. They will then have over a week before travelling to the north-east for their next game when they play Sunderland.

Ray

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