Premier U-21 League One 2015-16
                 Leigh Sports Village, Leigh
                Monday 4th January 2016, 7pm.

              MANCHESTER UTD   v     SPURS
               (Red/White)        (White/Blue)
                 4-2-3-1            4-2-3-1

                  3(1)                1(0)

                 Joel Pereira  1  Thomas Glover
             Guillermo Varela  2  Kyle Walker-Peters
            Ro-Shaun Williams  3  Luke Amos
          Timothy Fosu-Mensah  4  Filip Lesniak
                James Weir(C)  5  Cameron Carter-Vickers
                  Ben Pearson  6  Milos Veljkovic(C)
              Matthew Willock  7  Andros Townsend
              Devonte Redmond  8  Harry Winks
                William Keane  9  Shaquile Coulthirst
              Andreas Pereira 10  Anton Walkes
                Joshua Harrop 11  Anthony Georgiou

              Ashley Fletcher 12  William Miller
                    (9)84Mins     (8)70Mins
                Kieran O'Hara 13  Harry Voss
                 Joe Rothwell 14  Cy Goddard
                                  (10)79Mins
              Marcus Rashford 15  Joseph Pritchard
                   (11)74Mins     (3)74Mins
                    Joe Riley 16
                   (7)67Mins

Scorers:-
            Keane 12              Pritchard 76
            A. Pereira 65, 90

Booked:- 
            A. Pereira 67(Push)
            Pearson 85(Foul)

Coaches:-
            W. Joyce              U. Ehiogu

Attendance:- 959

Referee:– Elizabeth Simms
Assistants:- C. Buxton & M. Sowerby
Fourth Official;- D. Bell

Spurs travelled to Greater Manchester (formerly Lancashire) for their first game of the year. While United have previously held their games at Altringham and once at Sale Sharks, Leigh is now their home ground. It has also hosted the Blackburn Rovers U-21, which was the last time that I had been to this stadium. It was a cold evening with a little drizzle and no sign of the flooding in the region although I did hear that a bridge in Leigh had been damaged.

Spurs lined up with Glover in goal behind Carter-Vickers and Veljkovic with Walker-Peters at right back and Amos on the left. Lesniak was joined by Winks in front of the back four with Walkes in front of them. They were flanked by Townsend on the right and Georgiou on the left in support of Coulthirst up front. Because of the up-coming Youth Cup game at Stevenage on Wednesday there was a short bench of three midfielders in Miller, Goddard and Joe Pritchard.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the south end but found the home side well organised to combat the flowing passing game. Coulthirst was closely marked and the United midfield closed down the Spurs midfield players so well that few chances were created by either side. Spurs had the first chance when Coulthirst played in Townsend on the right but his cross shot was turned away by goalkeeper Joel Pereira for a corner.

United won the ball in the Spurs half and Willock advanced into the area but Glover saved his low drive. From another turnover Weir got down the right and fired in a shot. Glover may have got a hand to the effort, but Keane had a tap in at the far post for the opening goal. United kept up the pressure but were generally held at bay with Keane and Andreas Pereira having shots wide from outside the area.

Spurs began to get into the game late in the half with Coulthirst laying off the ball for Walkes to drive wide. Townsend got down the right and put in a cross which was just behind Coulthirst who tried an overhead kick that was wide. Townsend then worked his way into the area beating three defenders before hitting the bar near the far post with a dipping effort.

There were no changes for the start of the second half but United did make an early change pushing Weir up field. Williams headed over from a corner before they increased their lead. Pereira took a left sided corner and curled it into the far corner beating Glover. Pereira went into the ref's book when he pushed Veljkovic as the Spurs defender was giving Harrop some verbals after a tackle which saw the United play slow down. The ref did not penalise the Spurs player for the tackle. Similarly, she did not give a penalty for a tackle on Georgiou in the first half when the defender did not get the ball.

Spurs made their first change replacing Winks with Miller in midfield. Carter-Vickers was caught in possession near the goal line by two United players, and Keane come away with the ball but fired wide.

Both sides made their second change with Joe Pritchard coming on for Amos going to the left side of midfield and Georgiou dropping to left back. Pritchard made an instant impact with his first touch when he headed home a Townsend cross to pull the score back to 2-1.

Spurs now began to push for a second goal, bringing on Goddard in place of Walkes to provide the ammunition for the attack. Fusu-Mensah won the ball in his own half and carried it forward before firing wide. As the Spurs pressure increased, Pearson was booked for a foul on Miller.

Walker-Peters got down the right pulling the ball back for Coulthirst but his effort was blocked. Coulthirst played in Townsend for a chance that was over the bar. With time running out Spurs pushed everyone forward for a corner that was cleared as far as Pereira near the centre circle. He had no defender between him and Glover who he drew out before slotting home to seal the win.

This was a tough game for Spurs which saw them unable to control the midfield as they were being closed down early. However, they were finding space late on in each half. If Townsend's effort had gone in it could have been a different second half. The goals conceded drop Spurs below Reading who now have the better goal difference while United move up to fourth with games in hand. Next week Spurs play Chelsea at Stevenage on Monday while United go to Reading the same evening.

Ray

Follow @spursodyssey