Premier U-21 League 2015-16
              St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton
              Tuesday 9th February 2016, 7pm.

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

                   1(0)            1(0)

           Paulo Gazzaniga  1  Luke McGee
              Cuco Martina  2  Kyle Walker-Peters
               Josh Debyao  3  Anthony Georgiou
                Harry Reed  4  Luke Amos
              Bevis Mugabi  5  Cameron Carter-Vickers
               Alfie Jones  6  Nabil Bentaleb(C)
                 Josh Sims  7  William Miller
            Dominic Gape(C) 8  Harry Winks
             Sam Gallagher  9  Shayon Harrison
            Jimenez Jaunmi 10  Joshua Onomah
              Jake Hesketh 11  Anton Walkes

           Olufela Olomola 12  Filip Lesniak
                               (8)80Mins
               Harry Lewis 13  Harry Voss
             Armani Little 14  Cy Goddard
                               (10)80Mins
           Richard Barkary 15  Emmanuel Sonupe
                               (9)69Mins.
               Jake Vokins 16
                  (3)6Mins

Scorers:-
           Hesketh 62          Bentaleb 75

Booked:-
           Reed 51(Foul)
           Gape 90+2(Foul)

Coaches:- 
           M. Hunter           U. Ehiogu 

Referee:– A. Quelch
Assistants:- M. Bloor & D. Jacecko

Attendance:– About 480

Spurs travelled to Southampton having recently lost ground on the leading teams. It was a cold windy evening and Spurs were on the South coast to play a "Saints" side that had lost their previous four games. Southampton had beaten Spurs at Stevenage 2-0 earlier in the season. On Spurs' last trip to St. Marys they came away with a 0-0 draw.

Spurs lined up with McGee behind Amos and Carter-Vickers with Walker-Peters at right back and Georgiou on the left. Bentaleb came in for the departed Veljkovic to captain the side in front of the defence alongside Winks while another first team squad member Onomah was ahead of them flanked by Miller on his right and Walkes on the left in support of the returning Harrison up front. Southampton also had a few players from their first team squad including Martina who scored a great goal against the gooners in their 4-0 win.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the South end which saw Debyao injure himself in a tackle on Miller which gave Spurs a free kick on the right. From the free kick Carter-Vickers headed wide of the far post. With Spurs' pressing game and the home side's more defensive formation, the visitors had more possession in the game but Southampton were dangerous on the break.

Winks fired wide before McGee saved from Sims. Onomah drew a save and Georgiou played in Miller for an effort that was also saved. Spurs were getting into good positions but tended to take too many passes in the area such as when Bentaleb played a long ball into the area to the head of Harrison. He laid it off to Onomah to set up Miller for a shot wide.

Bentaleb fired well over from distance before Southampton got the ball in the net on a break. The ball had been cleared to Martina on the right and his shot went through the legs of Jaunmi and in off the far post. Jaunmi was in an offside position and obstructing the keeper's line of sight. The goal was disallowed. Southampton had a good chance to take the lead when Gape found Gallagher who had got between Carter-Vickers and Amos but instead of taking on McGee he squared the ball to Jaunmi who was closed down. In the last minute of the half Jaunmi had a chance which was deflected for a corner.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which was a little more open than the first as Harrison drew a save from Gazzaniga early and Onomah fired wide. Reed went into the ref's book for a high tackle on Walker-Peters as he made another of his strong runs. Onomah fired wide from Miller's cross before Gallagher played in Sims for an effort that was saved.

The home side went in front when Martina crossed from the right and Sims laid the ball out to Hesketh on the left who curled it into the far side of the net.

Spurs continued to have most of the play and the "Saints" conceded ground defending their lead which saw them concede free kicks. Twice in two minutes Bentaleb had chances just outside the area which he curled round the wall, but wide of the right post.

Spurs made their first change replacing Harrison with Sonupe who went to the left side with Walkes going up front. Spurs went level when Sonupe received a short pass from Onomah and whipped in a low cross into the danger area which was only cleared to Bentaleb twenty yards out. The captain drove the ball low into the left side of the goal.

With ten minutes to go Spurs made a double change with Lesniak replacing Winks and Goddard taking over from Onomah. The home side came close to regaining the lead when Hesketh hit the post with a low drive, but as Spurs continued to press Gape took one for the team to stop a break through the middle in added time.

A bit like the first team Spurs had lots of possession but with few chances, not helped by overplaying in the opposition area. Both defences cut down the chances which did not warm the crowd much on a cold evening.

The draw sees Spurs drop two places in the league. The next game for the U-21 side is away to Leicester City on the 22nd at the King Power Stadium. Spurs beat them earlier in the season 7-4 at Hotspur Way in a game more open than those the first teams have been experiencing.

Ray

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