Premier U-2 League, Division One 2015-16
               White Hart Lane, Tottenham, N17
                 Friday 11th March 2016, 7pm

                  SPURS      v    NORWICH CITY
               (White/Blue)      (Green/Yellow)
                 4-2-3-1            4-2-3-1

                   1(0)              2(2) 

           Thomas McDermott  1 Jake Kean
       Kyle Walker-Peters(C) 2 Reece Hall-Johnson(C)
          Zenon Stylianides  3 Arinse Uade
              Filip Lesniak  4 Ray Grant
               Anton Walkes  5 Joe Crowe
          Christian Maghoma  6 Michee Efele
            Emmanuel Sonupe  7 Glenn Middleton
                  Luke Amos  8 Ebou Adams
             William Miller  9 Benny Ashley-Seal
           Joseph Pritchard 10 Jamie Eaton-Collins
           Anthony Georgiou 11 Jamal Lewis

                 Cy Goddard 12 Afolabi Coker
                  (3)78Mins
             Alfie Whiteman 13 Marcus Beauchamp
             Marcus Edwards 14 Louis McIntosh
                  (6)46Mins    (10)46Mins
                  Ryan Loft 15 Louis Ramsey
                 (10)55Mins
                            16 Reiss Awuah

Scorers:-
            Miller 88          Lewis 5
                               Grant 36

Booked:-
        Lesniak 35(Holding)    Adams 45+2(Foul)
        Amos 54(Foul)          Hall-Johnson 47(Foul)
        Walker-Peters 80(Foul) Middleton 90(Foul)
        Walker-Peters 80(Late) 
        Sonupe 88(Foul)

Sent Off:-
        Walker-Peters (2 Yellows)

Coach:-
        U. Ehiogu              D. Halajko

Referee:– C. O'Donnell
Assistants:– S. Lewis & G. Viccars
Fourth Official:– H. Gilroy

It was a cool misty evening for Spurs' U-21s' first game at the Lane this season with Norwich City the visitors. With the first team on their way back from the game at Dortmund, Ugo had to shuffle his squad with Maghoma coming in for Carter-Vickers at the back. Spurs beat the "Canaries" 3-2 at Carrow Road earlier in the season and were looking to do the double over the East Anglian side having suffered defeats in both games last season.

Spurs lined up with Maghoma and Walkes at the back in front of McDermott with Walker-Peters at right back and Stylianides filling in on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Amos alongside him and (Joe) Pritchard ahead of them flanked by Sonupe on the right and Georgiou on the left with Miller playing as a false nine again. A short bench include Edwards and Loft from the Academy

There was an early chance for Miller before the visitors took the lead when Lewis scored as Spurs failed to clear. Norwich had another two chances before good defensive blocks kept Spurs at bay. Pritchard fired over when played in by Walker-Peters before Lewis drove wide.

Norwich were stronger and quicker into the tackle, overpowering Spurs all over the pitch. Lesniak was booked for a tackle to stop Norwich getting into the area on the right and Spurs were further punished when Grant curled the free kick into the net at the near post to increase their lead. Both sides put in dangerous crosses but neither keeper had to make saves before the break. Adams was booked for a late challenge on Maghoma in added time at the end of the half.

Both sides made a change for the second half with Edwards coming on for Maghoma. Lesniak dropped into the back four with Pritchard moving deeper to allow Edwards to play behind Miller.

The half started the same as the first with Spurs making early attacks, but with Norwich resonding strongly. Hall-Johnson was booked for a foul to stop Georgiou on the left while Amos went into the ref's book for a foul on Uade. Spurs replaced Pritchard with Loft to lead the line with Miller behind him.

With only Amos in front of the back four, Norwich put the Spurs goal under pressure with Grant firing wide before McDermott saved from Adams and Ashley-Seal struck the post. Goddard came on for Stylianides in midfield with Walker-Peters moving to left back and Georgiou dropping to right back. It turned out not to be a good move as the Spurs captain committed two fouls in a minute and was booked both times and was therefore shown the red card leaving Spurs with ten men for the last ten minutes.

Uade saw his low drive deflected over by one of his own teammates before McIntosh drew saves from McDermott first at his left post turning it away for a corner and then at his right post. With the visitors looking to see out the game Spurs pushed for a goal and got it when a cross from the right was not cleared and Miller found the net. This gave the crowd hope and Sonupe was booked trying to get the ball back off the visitors to restart the game. Norwich held on with Middleton booked for a foul on Georgiou as he got past him on the left flank.

This was not a good performance from Spurs with Norwich showing a lot of steel in their play, closing down quickly making Spurs lose possession much to easily. Spurs do not have a good record at White Hart Lane which is a concern as two of their remaining home games will be played at the Lane against high-riding Manchester United and Sunderland. Spurs' next game is at the King Power Stadium on the Monday 21st playing Leicester City. This will be the day after the first team play Bournemouth so any of the development squad included in that game will be missing from the squad travelling to the Midlands.

Ray

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