Premier U-18 League Cup, Quarter Final, 2017-18
         Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
         Wednesday 10th January 2018, 11am

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

              4(1)             0(0)

    Jonathan De Bie(C) 1  Vitezslav Jaros
         Tariq Hinds   2  Yasser Larouci
      Jamie Reynolds   3  Adam Lewis(C)
        Oliver Skipp   4  Rhys Williams
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster  5  Morgan Boyes
       Timothy Eyoma   6  Tom Clayton
     Dilan Markanday   7  Edvard Tagseth
   Phoenix Patterson   8  Elijah Dixon-Bonner
       Reo Griffiths   9  Liam Millar
      Rodel Richards  10  Curtis Jones
        Rayan Clarke  11  Rafael Camacho

    Jonathan Dinzeyi  12  Neco Williams
           (8)89Mins      (6)
    Joshua Oluwayemi  13  Ben Williams
       Paris Maghoma  14  Abdi Sharif
          (11)55Mins
J'neil Lloyd-Bennett  15  Luis Longstaff
          (10)78Mins      (11)72Mins
        Jamie Bowden  16  Paul Glatzel
                          (2)61Mins

Scorers:-
       Griffiths 42
       Richards 54, 60
       Markanday 90

Coach:-
       Scott Parker       Steven Gerrard

Referee:– Tim Donnellan
Assistants:– Keith Kennett & Steven Conway

It was a chilly morning with a low sun for the first quarter-final tie of the newly formed Premier League Cup. Liverpool qualified as winners of group D beating Sunderland, Middlesborough and West Ham. Spurs got through as one of the best runners up by beating Villa and Leicester in group H which was won by Fulham. Liverpool were unbeaten in all matches this season as well as in the cup sitting top of the northern league. They won their last match 6-1 at Blackburn while Spurs were held to a 4-4 draw against Leicester. In the draw Spurs got home advantage in the one-off tie which would be decided on the day.

While Liverpool were unchanged Spurs lined up with De Bie in goal behind Lyons-Foster and Eyoma with Hinds at right back and Reynolds on the left. Skipp anchored the midfield with Richards and Patterson ahead of him flanked by Markanday on the right and Clarke on the left in support of Griffiths up front.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North end in an open expansive game with both sides moving the ball well. Millar had an early chance that was wide and Griffiths also fired wide when played in by Skipp. Richards headed wide from a corner and Williams did the same at the other end.

After Larouci saw his effort deflected for a corner Lyons-Foster drew the first save of the game from a half-cleared corner that he had aimed at the top far corner. Liverpool won a free kick on the edge of the area but Camacho hit the crossbar with the kick. Spurs finally made the breakthrough when Skipp played in Griffiths to beat Jaros with a low finish. Liverpool responded well and when Lewis got round the back and crossed, Camacho fired over in front of a gaping net to let Spurs go in at the break a goal up.

There were no changes at the start of the second half which saw an early chance for Spurs when Reynolds crossed from the left and Clarke completely missed the ball. Hinds then got down the right for Patterson to turn and fire wide. De Bie had to save from Camacho before Spurs increased their lead. Richards closed down Jaros quickly to block his kick which went into the net.

Before the restart Spurs replaced Clarke with Maghoma to strengthen the midfield. Maghoma laid the ball out to Richards on the right to advance and score his second and Spurs' third soon after. Richards first effort was blocked but his second flew inside the near post.

Liverpool took off a defender for another striker in Glatzel who had a dig from distance that flew over. Camacho had another effort over the bar before he was replaced by Longstaff who drew a save from De Bie a minute after coming on. Lewis got down the left and crossed for Jones to hit the near post with his effort.

Maghoma played in Markanday on the left for a chance that was saved before Spurs made their second change with Lloyd-Bennett replacing Richards as Spurs sought to see out the game. Jones fired wide following a corner before a move beginning with a Lyons-Foster block that Skipp took forward before playing in Griffiths who laid it off to Patterson to fire over.

Lewis hit a free kick over before Spurs made their last change taking off Patterson for Dinzeyi to go into a back five. In the last minute Hinds broke through two Liverpool players on the right and raced down the pitch from his own half before crossing the ball for Markanday to control before drilling past Jaros for number four.

This was a good performance by Spurs against another good side and they won well. It shows that when the other side play football and do not keep ten players behind the ball Spurs' passing game is good enough to win against anybody. The other three ties involving Everton v Fulham, Sunderland v Chelsea and Arsenal v Norwich will not be played until the end of the month so Spurs will not know who they will meet in the semi-final for a while. Spurs' next game is away to AFC Bournemouth in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup next week while Liverpool will be playing Arsenal.

Ray

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