Premier League 2, Division 1, 2016-17
          Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
          Friday 28th October 2016, 12 noon

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

               1(1)              1(1)

         Thomas Glover  1   Dean Henderson
        Joseph Muscatt  2   Ro-Shaun Williams
     Zenon Stylianides  3   Axel Tuanzebe(C)
          Luke Amos(C)  4   Regan Poole
         Charlie Owens  5   Joe Riley
     Christian Maghoma  6   Sean Goss
    Kyle Walker-Peters  7   Matthew Olosunde
          Anton Walkes  8   Devonte Redmond
       Shayon Harrison  9   Matthew Willock
            Cy Goddard 10   Josh Harrop
      Anthony Georgiou 11   Sadiq El Fitouri

      Joseph Pritchard 12   Demetri Mitchell
            (10)68Mins      (10)58Mins
        Brandon Austin 13   Kieran O'Hara
         Shilow Tracey 14   Charlie Scott
             (2)82Mins
       Keanan Bennetts 15   Tosin Kehinde
             (3)87Mins      (6)76Mins
                       16   Tyrell Warren
                            (7)82Mins

Scorers:-
           Harrison 31      Riley 20

Booked:-
     Muscatt 45+1(Foul)     Harrop 16(Late)
    Georgiou 67(Diving)     Williams 49(KBA)
     Pritchard 79(Foul)     Tuanzebe 88(Foul)

Coach:-
             U. Ehiogu      W. Joyce

Ref:– A. Young
Assistants:– C. Walcester & J. Few
Fourth Official:– N. West

The morning started in bright sunshine for the first half before it clouded over during the second for the visit of Manchester United. Spurs went into the game having lost their previous five games and had dropped into the relegation zone while the visitors had won their last two against Liverpool and Arsenal to move up into the top half of the table. Games between the two sides have usually been entertaining matches with last season's game finishing 3-2 to United with a very late winner at White Hart Lane. Amos, Walkes and Harrison made the bench for Tuesday's cup game at Anfield with Shayon getting on during the second half.

Spurs lined up with Glover in goal, having returned from playing for the Australia U-19's, behind Owens and Maghoma. Muscatt switched to right back with Stylianides filling in on the left. Amos anchored the midfield with Walkes. Walker-Peters moved up to the right side of midfield next to Goddard with Georgiou on the left side in support of Harrison up front.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the South end and pushed the visitors back with Walker-Peters having an early chance deflected for a corner. Walker-Peters was causing the United defence all sorts of problems and Muscatt, pushed forward in support, getting caught by a late tackle by Harrop which saw the United man booked. As so often with Spurs, having pushed players forward in support, they got caught out at the back when Goss hit a long ball over the top. Riley ran onto the ball down the left. He cut inside, avoiding the attempted tackle by Owens, to finish inside the near post. Riley had another chance that was saved by Glover before Spurs equalised. Georgiou crossed the ball from the right for Goddard to hit. Goss blocked but the ball ran kindly to Harrison who made no mistake. The game opened out with Glover making a couple of saves and Goss firing over. In added time Muscatt was booked for pulling back Harrop when he turned him.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which began in a very open manner as United tried to press high. There was an early booking for Williams for kicking the ball away after conceding a free kick, and Walkes had a header from a corner go wide of the far post. Goss had another effort wide and Stylianides won a corner when United failed to clear their lines from a Goddard corner.

Henderson had an easy save from Walkes' header from Goddard's cross as Spurs began to get on top. Walker-Peters made a run and his shot was saved with Georgiou picking up the rebound. Georgiou was then booked when he went to ground in the area. Spurs made their first change replacing Goddard with Pritchard to run at the United defence. Georgiou crossed for Harrison to draw a save from Henderson before the striker played in Walkes for a chance that was also saved. Pritchard was booked for a foul in the middle before Olosunde drew a save from his deflected effort.

Tracey came on for Muscatt with Walker-Peters dropping to right back. Tracey soon provided a cross for Harrison who fired wide. Spurs' last change saw Bennetts replace Stylianides at left back, but he was free to push forward in support of Georgiou on the left. Georgiou had to go off and change his shirt because of blood-stains and finished with the No.20 on his back. With Spurs going all out for a winner, Tuanzebe was booked for a foul on Walkes. From the free kick, Harrison fired wide and United held out for a point.

Spurs' first point in a long while was reward for a more positive display especially the runs by Walker-Peters which drew two or three defenders to stop him. With Arsenal playing this evening Spurs move above them in the table and are due to play them next after the International break. That NLD will be played at Hotspur Way on the 18th November with a noon kick off.

Ray

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