Premier U-21 League 2015-16
                 Adams Park, High Wycombe
               Thursday 3rd March 2016, 7pm.

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

                  1(1)             1(0)

                 Lewis Ward  1 Thomas McDermott
              Tennai Watson  2 Kyle Walker-Peters(C)
                  Sean Long  3 Luke Amos
          Conor Shaughnessy  4 Filip Lesniak
                  Zak Jules  5 Anton Walkes
              Shane Griffin  6 Nabil Bentaleb
                Jack Stacey  7 Emmanuel Sonupe
               Aaron Kuhl(C) 8 Joseph Pritchard
             Harry Cardwell  9 Will Miller
               Josh Barrett 10 Cy Goddard
                Tariqe Fosu 11 Anthony Georgiou

                 Nana Owusu 12 Christian Maghoma
                               (8)78Mins
             Luke Southwood 13 Alfie Whiteman
             Andy Rinomhota 14 Zenon Stylianides
                               (6)63Mins
                 Noor Husin 15 Marcus Edwards
                               (10)63Mins
         Andrija Novakovich 16 Charlie Owens

Scorers:-
         Stacey 45+2           Miller 71

Coaches-
         M. Kuhl               U. Ehiogu

Referee:– D. Leach
Asstistants:- P. Eddie & C. Robson
Fourth Official:– S. Olhausen

Spurs travelled to Buckinghamshire on a cold rainy evening to play Reading who sat a place above them in fifth just two points better off. Spurs had slipped three places due to only playing once in February as games had been moved. Reading beat Spurs 4-1 at Stevenage in September.

Spurs lined up with McDermott in goal behind Lesniak and Walkes with Walker-Peters at right back and Amos on the left. Bentaleb anchored the midfield with Pritchard and Goddard in front of him supporting Miller flanked by Sonupe on the right and Georgiou on the left.

Spurs kicked off attacking the East end but were pushed back by early pressure from the "Royals" which saw Cardwell head a centre wide and also turn a cross from the left wide of the near post. Stacey fired over before Spurs began to get into the game. Goddard played in Pritchard for an effort that was saved. Sonupe whipped in a ball across the six yard box that Miller could not reach before drawing a save when a corner was only half cleared.

Fosu put in a centre over the top that was headed goalwards by Cardwell, and it was only a good reaction save from McDermott which kept out this attempt. Shaughnessy fired over from a corner before McDermott saved from Stacey. Cardwell fired wide when played in by Long before Ward saved an effort from Amos from a corner. Shaughnessy fired over from a free kick played square.

When Walker-Peters was fouled just outside the area Bentaleb saw his free kick deflected for a corner from which a header by Pritchard was saved by the keeper. In added time at the end of the half Stacey came inside off the left flank to score from a tight angle to send the home side in with a slender lead.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Spurs begin strongly. Georgiou fired wide having got down the left and Bentaleb drew a save with a long range effort. Miller turned a cross from the left wide of the far post before a 30 yard drive by Bentaleb struck the left post.

Amos sent Miller clear through the left channel with Sonupe to his right but under-hit his pass to the winger. This allowed the defender to tackle with Sonupe going down asking for a penalty which the referee ignored. Walkes mis-hit the ball wide from a corner as Spurs pressed. Bentaleb fired wide with his last contribution before being replaced by Stylianides who went to left back with Amos moving into midfield. At the same time Edwards replaced Goddard behind the front three.

As the players adjusted to the changes, Reading staged a fight-back with Cardwell firing over and Jules heading over to win a corner from which his partner Griffin headed wide.

Spurs were level when Edwards played the ball in from the right to Pritchard. Joe threaded the ball through to Miller who made a diagonal run behind the home defence giving him space to fire across Ward into the far side of the goal.

The game became stretched with both sides pushing for a winner. Following a corner that was only half cleared, Walker-Peters cleared off the line from Shaughnessy. Sonupe played in Pritchard but his effort was blocked. Stacey played in Cardwell but McDermott saved before Spurs made their last change due to Pritchard going off injured. Maghoma came on and went into the back four with Lesniak moving into the midfield.

A good run by Edwards saw him test Ward with a low drive before he set up another chance by playing in Miller on the left but his cross was missed by Sonupe. Cardwell drew a couple of saves from McDermott as the half finished with both sides taking a point.

Spurs were a little sloppy in their passing in the first half, allowing Reading to have more of the ball. Spurs were better in the second half when they pinned Reading in their own half for a good spell of the game. The draw was a fair result for the effort both sides made in an end to end game. Spurs next game is next week when they play Norwich City at White Hart Lane on Friday evening. Spurs will be looking to complete the double over the East Anglian side having beat them 3-2 at Carrow Road. Norwich did the double over Spurs last season winning 2-0 at the Lane.

Ray

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