FA Youth Cup, Round 4, 2017-18
       Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth
       Tuesday 16th January 2018, 7pm

       BOURNEMOUTH    v     SPURS
       (Red/Black)       (White/Blue)
         4-4-1-1           4-1-4-1

           0(0)              3(1)

         Will Dennis  1  Jonathan De Bie(C)
      Charlie Seaman  2  Tariq Hinds
     Connal Morrison  3  Jamie Reynolds
    Nnamdi Ofoborh(C) 4  Oliver Skipp
        Brennan Camp  5  Brooklyn Lyons-Foster
        Luke Nippard  6  Timothy Eyoma
         Ryan Glover  7  Rodel Richards
         James Boote  8  Paris Maghoma
            Ash Pope  9  Reo Griffiths
      Gavin Kilkenny 10  Pheonix Patterson
      Jaiden Anthony 11  J'neil Lloyd-Bennett

         Tom Hanfrey 12  Jamie Bowden
           (3)77Mins     (10)90Mins
         Callum Ward 13  Joshua Oluwayemi
        Tom Dinsmore 14  Tashan Oakley-Boothe
                         (11)63Mins
        Antonio Diaz 15  Dilan Markanday
           (7)72Mins
      Jake Scrimshaw 16  Rayan Clarke
           (9)72Mins     (7)84Mins

Scorers:-
                         Griffiths 44, 55
                         Clarke 90+2

Booked:-  
       Seaman 67(Foul)
       Morrison 75(Late)

Coaches:-
       Alan Connell      Scott Parker

Attendance:- 1362

Referee:– Marc Whaley
Assistants:– Richard Lawrence & Sam Littlefair
Fourth Official:– Mark Bradley

It was a cold wet evening that saw the game start and finish in pouring rain on the South coast. Spurs qualified for this match with a 5-0 victory over Preston North End at Hotspur Way while the hosts beat Hull City 3-0. Bournemouth play in the EPL Youth Alliance League which is for category 3 & 4 academies which means that they are not up to Premier League standard. It does not mean that their players are any worst than those at the bigger clubs but they are subject to cherry picking of their brightest personnel.

Spurs lined up with De Bie in goal behind Eyoma and Lyons-Foster with Hinds at right back and Reynolds on the left. Skipp anchored the midfield with Maghoma and Patterson ahead of him flanked by Richards on the right and Lloyd-Bennett on the left in support of Griffiths up front. On the bench we saw the return of Oakley-Boothe who has spent time with the first team squad since returning from the U-17 World Cup.

Spurs defended the South end in the first half and quickly took the game to the hosts with their passing game. Bournemouth defended strongly but could not break out in the early stages. Lloyd-Bennett crossed for Griffths to head straight at Dennis who then saved a Richards deflected cross at his near post . The keeper conceded a corner saving again from Griffiths who fired wide from another Lloyd-Bennett cross.

Maghoma fired over before the "Cherries" had their first chance. It came from a corner routine that saw Glover draw a save from De Bie. Up until then they had put a couple of balls across the area that were not met. Reynolds drove wide when a Lloyd-Bennett cross was half cleared and Maghoma fired over for a corner. The breakthrough came when Patterson took a short corner into the area and whipped the ball across. Richards met the ball at the far post and Griffiths put it over the line to allow Spurs to go in at half-time with a lead.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Spurs continue to dominate possession. When Boote fouled Griffiths in the left channel it gave Maghoma a chance from the free kick which Dennis saved. Spurs got the second from a long ball by Lyons-Foster up to Griffiths who flicked on for Patterson. The Spurs midfielder stopped as did the defenders which allowed Griffiths to run on and slot the ball past a stranded keeper.

With a two goal margin Oakley-Boothe was introduced which meant that with Eyoma Spurs had two World Cup winners on the pitch. De Bie saved a free kick by Seaman before the Bournemouth defender went into the ref's book for a foul on Oakley-Boothe. Maghoma had another free kick when Patterson was fouled which was more central than before. This time he struck the top left corner of the woodwork.

After making a double change Bournemouth had another chance when Kilkenny's cross was not cleared but Seaman fired over. Morrison was then booked for a late tackle on Oakley-Boothe which saw him replaced shortly after. Patterson played a one two with Maghoma before firing wide and Maghoma drove over from outside the area.

Griffiths got through on the right and drew the keeper befor playing in Oakley-Boothe who did not hit his effort strongly enough and allowed Boote to clear off the line. Spurs made their second change replacing Richards with Clarke. Patterson fired wide before drawing a save from Dennis when played in by Griffiths. Bowden replaced Patterson as full time approached but there was still time for another goal. Griffiths laid the ball off for Maghoma to hit and when Dennis saved his effort the ball came out to Clarke to prod home.

This was another comfortable win for Spurs even though it took a while to finally break through a stubborn defence. Griffiths was very good leading the line while Skipp protected the back line. The midfield took control from the beginning and maintained it to the end. We now await the result of the Chelsea v West Brom game tonight to see who we meet in the next round at Stevenage. The U-18's will be back in league action on Saturday morning at Brighton.

Ray

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