Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.

   Premier League 2, First Division 2018-19
      Brighton Training Centre, Lancing
        Sunday 3rd February 2019, 2pm

         BRIGHTON     v     SPURS
       (Blue/White)       (All Blue)
         4-4-1-1           4-1-4-1

           2(1)              0(0)

          Hugo Keto   1  Brandon Austin
      Archie Davies   2  Jubril Okedina
      Alex Cochrane   3  Tariq Hinds
      Max Sanders(C)  4  George Marsh
       Leo Ostigard   5  Japhet Tanganga(C)
      Warren O'Hora   6  Brooklyn Lyons-Foster
         Jack Spong   7  Shilow Tracey
     Hayden Roberts   8  Tashan Oakley-Boothe
    Bojan Radulovic   9  Troy Parrott
      Danny Cashman  10  Jack Roles
      Peter Gwargis  11  J'Neil Bennett

   Soufyan Ahannach  12  Dylan Duncan
         (11)61Mins      (10)66Mins
     Billy Collings  13  Jonathan De Bie
         Owen Moore  14  Malachi Walcott
         (10)88Mins
      Joe Tomlinson  15  Rayan Clarke
                         (11)63Mins
       Ryan Longman  16
          (9)72Mins

Scorers:-
   Radulovic 20, 61

Booked:-
  Davies 90+1(Push)      Roles 45(Foul)
                         Clarke 81(Foul)

Coaches:-
         Simon Rusk      Wayne Burnett

Attendance:– 201

Referee:– Carl Brook
Assistants:– Gary Jordon & James Vallence
Fourth Official:– Casimir Nzenga 

Spurs travelled to the South coast to take on the fourth placed "Seagulls" at the end of the January transfer window. Brighton drew at Liverpool 1-1 in their last league game which Spurs matched at West Ham. Both sides have since played in the PL International Cup. Spurs had a 5-4 win over Atletico Bilbao while Brighton lost 2-0 to Bayen Munich. Earlier in the season Brighton drew 1-1 at Stevenage. Both sides saw players go out on loan in the transfer window. Sterling went to Sunderland making a sub appearance on Saturday while Georgiou went to Levante and Harrison to Melbourne. Janssen, who had two goals and three assists in his three games, has been called into the first team squad.

Spurs lined up with Austin back in goal behind Tanganga and Lyons-Foster with Okedina at right back and Hinds on the left. Marsh anchored the midfield with Oakley-Boothe and Roles ahead of him. They were flanked by Tracey on the right and Bennett on the left in support of Parrott up front. Injuries meant that it was a short bench.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North end looking to get their passing game going while Brighton were set up to stop them doing that. They were quick to close down and strong in their challenges, making sure Spurs were going nowhere.

Spurs had the first chance when Marsh hit a weak effort from outside the area from a square ball by Tracey, which Keto held comfortably. Tracey knocked the ball across the goal to Parrott who pulled it back for Okedina to hit, but his effort was blocked. Following a corner, Hinds drove over.

Brighton took the lead when a corner was not cleared and Radulovic scored from close range. Spurs continued to try to pass the ball through the packed home defence with Parrott playing in Roles to draw a save from the former "Gunners"' keeper. Brighton always looked to break and Sanders tested Austin before Parrott drew a save. Gwargis won a corner when his effort was blocked. Just before the break Roles was booked following a dropped ball after a stoppage which Brighton contested instead of letting him play it back.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Austin saving a header from Ostigard following a corner. Bennett hit an effort wide before Brighton turned over the ball following a Spurs corner giving Radulovic a one on one with Austin to score his and Brighton's second.

Both sides began to make changes with Clarke replacing Bennett on the left. Parrott played in Roles to draw a save with a deflected effort. Duncan replaced Parrott with Tracey going up front. Tracey played in Roles to draw another save. Clarke saw his shot deflected wide for a corner. Clarke fouled Davies as he broke down the right to go into the ref's book. Austin saved from Spong while Longman fired wide.

Davies then picked up a booking for a push on Clarke as he broke through. The last chance of the game saw Tracey fire wide before the referee blew his whistle.

This was not a great performance by Spurs who could not get their passing game going in the face of the strong challenging "Seagulls". While Spurs had most possession and chances the deep defence allied to the counter-attacking of the home side saw them take the win and move into second place in the table. Spurs will need to sort themselves out for their next game which will be a North London derby at Stevenage on the 15th February.

Ray

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