Premier League 2, Division 1, 2017-18
       Landore Training Ground, Swansea
        Friday 16th February 2018, 7pm

           SWANSEA    v    SPURS
         (All White)     (All Blue)
           4-2-3-1        4-1-4-1

             2(2)           2(2)

       Gregor Zabret  1  Brandon Austin
         Aaron Lewis  2  Joseph Pritchard
         Matic Paljk  3  Jaden Brown
          Jack Evans  4  Tashan Oakley-Boothe
       Cian Harries(C)5  Christian Maghoma(C)
      Brandon Cooper  6  Jonathan Dinzeyi
         Liam Cullen  7  Shilow Tracey
        Kees Be Boer  8  Jack Roles
    Courtney
    Baker-Richardson  9  Kazaiah Sterling
        George Byers 10  Keanan Bennetts
      Jordon Garrick 11  Anthony Georgiou

       Causso Darame 12  Dylan Duncan
                         (11)60Mins
           Alex Lang 13  Luke O'Reilly
         Mael Davies 14  Matthew Lock
           (3)46Mins     (4)81Mins
           Joe Lewis 15  Rayan Clarke
         Botti Biabi 16 

Scorers:-
  Baker-Richardson 2     Sterling 21 (pen), 45
  Garrick 18 

Booked:-
   Byers 57(Holding)     Tracey 89(UGC)
Baker-Richardson 67(Foul)
   Evans 82(Foul)
   Garrick 89(UGC)

Coaches:-
       Gary Richards     Wayne Burnett 
   & Cameron Toshack

Referee:- Samuel Allison
Assistants:- Mark Billingham & Simon Brown
Fourth official:- Greg Rollason

Spurs arrived in Wales on a run of three games unbeaten to face the the high flying "Swans" who have climbed to fourth on their own unbeaten run of seven matches. Swansea topped the second divison last season to gain promotion and earlier in the season Spurs drew 2-2 with them at Stevenage.

Spurs lined up with Austin in goal behind Maghoma and Dinzeyi with Pritchard again starting at right back and Brown on the left. Oakley-Boothe anchored the midfield with Roles and Bennetts ahead of him. They were flanked by Tracey on the right and Georgiou on the left in support of Sterling up front. With the U-18's playing Saturday there was a short bench.

Spurs defended the East end with both sides playing an open expansive game using the pace of the forward players. Swansea had the upper hand early on as they pressed hard and defended strongly. They took an early lead when Garrick got down the right and crossed for Baker-Richardson to score, attacking the near post. It was a cracking first time effort that beat Austin diving to his right.

Austin had to make a double save when saving from Byers' drive inside the near post and recovering to save Cullen's follow up. Georgiou got down the left to fire across the goalmouth. Austin saved a header from Cooper at a corner and then conceded another - saving from Garrick. Harries fired wide from that one.

The home pressure produced another goal when Garrick netted at the far post from another corner. Spurs reacted well with Tracey getting down the right and winning a penalty when Paljk brought him down. Sterling stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way scoring to the right side. Cullen fired wide as Spurs were beginning to put more passes together and Georgiou crossed for Roles to head over. Tracey got down the right and pulled the ball back for Sterling to control and drill into the net to the right of Zabret for the equaliser beore half-time.

Swansea replaced their left back before the start of the second half in response to Tracey's runs. The second half was more open with both sides looking to get the ball forward quicker. Cullen crossed for Garrick to fire wide before Byers was the first player to go into the ref's book for a foul on Georgiou. The ref had been trying to keep his cards in his pocket which did not please fans of both sides, having little chats with players in the first half.

Byers hit a free kick over before Spurs made their first change with Duncan replacing Georgiou on the hour to go into midfield with Bennetts moving wide. Baker-Richardson was the next player to be booked for a foul on Bennetts. Byers had two chances when he fired over and then minutes later hit the far post from a pass by Garrick. Baker-Richardson was played through but as Austin came out he fired over.

Spurs' second change saw Oakley-Boothe replaced by Lock who went to right back to allow Pritchard to move into midfield. Evans was next into the ref's book for something I missed. Pritchard hit a free kick over as Spurs looked for the winner. In the last minute there was a flare-up when Garrick clashed with Tracey as he got down the left which saw both players booked to end the game on a sour note.

This had been a challenging game for Spurs with the home side flexing their muscles in a hard fought game. Swansea countered Spurs' passing game with strong tackling and pace in attack. Garrick was getting the better of Brown on the left as Tracey was doing the same against Paljk. Both sides got away with some challenges in the first half which just resulted in "words" from the referee. Things opened up in the second half which benefited Spurs' passing game and tested the home defence. Results elsewere went Spurs way as both Sunderland and Manchester United lost. Spurs are in 10th place, one point above the relegation zone. Spurs next game will be at Hotspur Way with Derby County the visitors on the 2nd March.

Ray

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