Premier League 2, First Divison 2016-17
              Goodison Park, Liverpool
             Monday 10th April 2017, 7pm.

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

                4(0)              1(0)

           Mateusz Hewelt  1  Thomas Glover
           Jonjoe Kenny(C) 2  Timothy Eyoma
         Antonee Robinson  3  Japhet Tanganga
            Muhamed Besic  4  Filip Lesniak(C)
            Morgan Feeney  5  Christian Maghoma
         Brendan Galloway  6  Ryan Johnson
            Kieran Dowell  7  William Miller
               Liam Walsh  8  Cy Goddard
    Dominic Calvert-Lewin  9  Shilow Tracey
             Joe Williams 10  Marcus Edwards
          Ademola Lookman 11  Jaden Brown

           Harry Charsley 12  Kazaiah Sterling
                (4)46Mins
               Louis Gray 13  Alfie Whiteman
           Bassala Sambou 14  Keanan Bennetts
               (11)64Mins     (6)75Mins
              David Henen 15  George Marsh
                (7)83Mins     (8)80Mins
           Matthew Foulds 16

Scorers:-
           Lookman 61         Sterling 71
           Sambou 68
           Dowell 74
           Calvert-Lewin 81 

Booked:-
                              Johnson 75(Foul)

Coaches:-
           David Unsworth     Ugo Ehiogu 

Attendance:– 885

Referee:– T. Nield
Assistants:– M. Parker & M. Cunliffe
Fourth Official:– A. Gray

Spurs travelled to the league leaders in good spirits having won their last game 4-0 against Reading. The hosts have a two point lead over Manchester City and a win over Spurs would extend that to five with two games to play for each. It was a chilly evening in Liverpool for the match which had been switched from Southport due to its importance for the "Toffees". Last season Spurs drew 1-1 at Southport but they lost 2-0 at Stevenage in the opening game of this season. As it is near the end of the season Spurs had Johnson in the team. He appears to be a young player from Stevenage being given a trial game.

Spurs lined up with a back three of Tanganga, Maghoma and Johnson. In front of them Lesniak anchored the midfield with Goddard. Ahead of them was Edwards and Miller who were flanked by Eyoma on the right and Brown on the left. These two are full backs but they were playing so far advanced that they were more wingers than wingbacks. Tracey led the line against a strong Everton side that included Galloway, Lookman and Besic who have first team experience.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the Gwladys Street end in a game where both sides played passing football. Both defences were strong and few chances for either side occurred in a tight half. Dowell fired over before Goddard played in Tracey for a chance that he hit over. Besic fouled Edwards as he tried to dribble his way into the area. The referee indicated first contact as being 30 yards out so Edwards took the kick firing over the bar.

Williams had an effort wide before Edwards was played in through the left channel by Goddard, but (wanting it on his right foot) Marcus came inside to the penalty spot before shooting and his effort was blocked. Hewelt made the first save of the game when Tracey got behind the defence to meet the free kick by Goddard saving with his legs. From the resultant corner Tracey headed over. Calvert-Lewin headed a cross wide before the Spurs defence blocked efforts from Lookman and Williams' follow up.

Everton made one change for the start of the second half adding another attacker in Charsley who had an early effort fly wide. Maghoma blocked an effort by Lookman before Tracey headed Eyoma's cross over. Everton took the lead when Galloway got down the left and his cross found Lookman at the far post. The Everton wideman did not move as the ball struck him and went in.

Spurs responded with Lesniak hitting a low drive that Hewelt saved diving to his right. Lesniak had another two efforts from similar distance outside the area before both sides made a change. Everton replaced the goalscorer with Sambou and Spurs sent on Sterling in place of Miller to join Tracey up front.

Everton got a second goal when Sambou was not closed down on the right and he curled the ball into the top corner. Spurs pulled a goal back when Edwards (dribbling in from the left) saw his cross deflected into the air and Sterling headed home at the near post. The home side regained their two goal lead when Dowell cut in from the right and curled the ball in from the edge of the area, which was very similar to the previous goal.

Johnson picked up the only booking of the match for a foul on Sambou and was replaced by Bennetts who took up a wide left position with Brown dropping into the back three. Sambou fired wide as Spurs continued to look for another goal. Sterling set up Lesniak for another shot that was saved before Spurs made their last change taking off Goddard for Marsh allowing Lesniak to push forward.

A low corner was backheeled by Tanganga and cleared off the line. Everton made the game safe when Glover's attempted clearance went to Sambou who chested it down for Calvert-Lewin to hit it into an empty net. As the game went into added time Edwards played in Sterling for a chance that was saved by Hewelt.

The game was a lot closer than the scoreline suggested with Everton now close to winning the first Premier League 2 title. A point from their last two games against Chelsea and Liverpool should be enough to prevent Manchester City overhauling them. The defeat drops Spurs to sixth place on 22 points, the same as their next opponents Manchester United who they play away on Monday 24th April at the Leigh Sports Village.

Ray

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