Premier League 2, First Division, 2017-18
         Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
           Friday 13th October 2017, 1pm

              SPURS     v    LEICESTER CITY
          (White/Blue)         (All Blue)
             4-2-3-1             5-4-1

               1(0)               1(1)

       Alfie Whiteman   1    Max Bramley
         George Marsh   2    Alex Pascanu
      Keanan Bennetts   3    Connor Wood
         Oliver Skipp   4    Sam Hughes
    Christian Maghoma   5    Josh Knight
      Japhet Tanganga   6    Darnell Johnson
      Samuel Shashoua   7    Hamza Choudhury(C)
    Joseph Pritchard(C) 8    Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
     Kazaiah Sterling   9    Admiral Muskwe
       Marcus Edwards  10    George Thomas
            Luke Amos  11    Josh Gordon

            Ryan Loft  12    Lamine Kaba Sherif
                             (8)46Mins
       Brandon Austin  13    Daniel Iversen
      Shayon Harrison  14    Liandro Martis
            (8)61Mins
           Jack Roles  15    Josh Eppiah
                             (2)70Mins
        Shilow Tracey  16    Layton Ndukwu
            (9)80Mins        (11)80Mins

Scorers:-
        Shashoua 65          Hughes 45

Booked:-
        Bennetts 63(Foul)    Thomas 90+3(Handball)

Coach:-
        Wayne Burnett        Steve Beaglehole

Attendance:– 189

Referee:– Samuel Allison
Assistants:– Richard Morris & Gareth Viccars
Fourth Official:– Stephen Bates

It was a cool and cloudy afternoon for the visit of Leicester City to the Spurs training ground. The "Foxes" come on a high, having beaten Chelsea 2-0 to move up to fourth place, while Spurs were bottom having lost to unbeaten Liverpool 4-2. Last season this fixture was played at White Hart Lane in May when the visitors won 4-1. This match was played on the U-16's pitch which has the temporary seatings along the north side. This meant that the attendance was limited and tickets issued.

Spurs lined up with Whiteman in goal behind Maghoma and Tanganga with Marsh at right back and Bennetts on the left. Skipp was partnered by Amos in front of the back four while ahead of them Pritchard was flanked by Edwards and Shashoua in midfield in support of Sterling up front.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the East end but found it difficult to break down the visitors' defence who sat back and sought to break quickly. When Spurs were on the ball Leicester hassled the player in possession looking to win the ball, but not worried about conceding free kicks. The first chance fell to Spurs when Edwards played in Sterling but his effort was saved. Maghoma tried to head the ball back for Whiteman only for Choudhury to dive in to head wide. Hughes got forward to draw a save from Whiteman before Shashoua played in Pritchard whose effort was blocked. Edwards played in Sterling to draw a save from Bramley with the Spurs striker following up to win a corner as a defender blocked. As Spurs put the Leicester defence under pressure Shashoua fired over.

Bennetts got down the left to cross for Sterling at the near post to turn over. Shashoua drew a save before the visitors went ahead. They won a free kick on the left which was played down the line for Wood to cross to the far post where Hughes headed in despite Whiteman getting a hand to it. Leicester looked comfortable at the back for the rest of the half.

Leicester made one change for the start of the second half which continued as the first ended. Edwards hit a free kick that was deflected over for a corner. Wood fired over from a half-cleared corner and Sherif also fired over minutes later. Spurs made their first change replacing Pritchard with Harrison in midfield.

Bennetts picked up a booking as he battled with Pascanu on the left before Spurs drew level. Edwards came in from the right and slipped the ball through for Shashoua making a diagonal run to the right. His shot was saved by Bramley coming off his line but Samuel was able to put in the rebound.

Spurs pushed for another and from a corner Tanganga saw his header cleared off the line. Shashoua payed a one-two with Bennetts to get down the left and pulled the ball back for Sterling to draw a save from the keeper. Harrison saw his long range effort saved before Spurs made their second change with Tracey replaced Sterling up front.

Leicester looked happy with a point and even had a chance when Ndukwu had a shot saved. In added time Leicester sent their big players forward for a free kick which left them short when Spurs broke away with Thomas attempting to stop Bennetts, he went down and grabbed the ball to prevent Spurs having a two on one, which earned him a booking. He did his job as the ref blew seconds later to bring the game to an end.

Spurs struggled at times to break down a resolute and well organised Leicester defence, needing more variation like balls over the top to make the visitors think twice. Having most possession they were forced to spend most of it playing in front of the visitors' defence. With three big centre-backs most of Leicester's threats were from deadball situations and Hughes (being the most dangerous of those centre-backs) was their goalscorer. The point moves Spurs off the bottom of the table with third placed Arsenal the next visitors to Hotspur Way. That will be in ten days time on Monday 23rd and will be followed by a trip to Pride Park on the Friday evening (27th) to play Derby County. The NLD against Arsenal as with the game against Chelsea are likely to be all ticket games if todays pitch is to be used as the stand has a capacity of around 200.

Ray

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