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

    Premier League 2, Division 1, 2018-19
   Lamex Stadium, Broadhall Way, Stevenage
        Friday 1st March 2019, 7pm

          SPURS      v     CHELSEA
       (White/Blue)       (All Blue)
         4-1-4-1            4-3-3

           1(1)              1(1)

     Brandon Austin  1  Jamie Cumming
        Tariq Hinds  2  Ethan Ampadu
      Dennis Cirkin  3  Richard Nartey(C)
       Harvey White  4  Marc Guehi
  Japhet Tanganga(C) 5  Ian Maatsen
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster6  Billy Gilmour
ashan Oakley-Boothe  7  Conor Gallagher
       George Marsh  8  Tariq Uwakwe
      Shilow Tracey  9  Daishawn Radan
      Paris Maghoma 10  Martell Taylor-Crossdale
     J'Neil Bennett 11  Juan Castillo

       Dylan Duncan 12  Joseph Colley
         (11)80Mins     (8)89Mins
      Thomas Glover 13  Karlo Ziger
   Jonathan Dinzeyi 14  George McEachran
          (9)82Mins     (9)74Mins
   Armando Shashoua 15  Luke McCormick
       (10)90+4Mins.    (5)58Mins.

Scorers:-
    Nartey 17 (o.g.) Gilmour 42 (pen)

Booked:-
Lyons-Foster 19(Foul)      Gallagher 71(Foul)
Tanganga 24(Foul),41(Pull) Ampadu 89(Foul)
Tracey 63(Foul)
Cirkin 89(Dive)

Sent Off:-
Tanganga 41(Two Yellows)

Coach:-
     Wayne Burnett      Joe Edwards

Attendance:- 622

Referee:– Sam Allison
Assistants:– Dan Bonneywell & Mike Desborough
Fourth Official:– Jack Bloxham

It was a cool overcast evening for the visit of Chelsea to Stevenage. Spurs lost their last game here to their North London rivals 4-0, while Chelsea lost 2-0 to Swansea City. Last season Spurs lost 3-2 to the west London side at Hotspur Way. In the away game earlier in the season Spurs were held to a 1-1 draw as Chelsea got a last minute equaliser against the run of play.

Spurs lined up with Austin in goal behind Lyons-Foster and Tanganga with Hinds back at right back and Cirkin on the left. White anchored the midfield with Marsh and Maghoma ahead of him. They were flanked by Oakley-Boothe on the right and Bennett on the left in support of Tracey up front. Both sides had a short bench.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the South end against a typical high pressing "Blues" side. Bennett had a curling effort in the first minute, wide of the far post, before the visitors had a Gallagher volley go wide from a corner. The Chelsea press saw Taylor-Crossdale fire over and Gilmour played in Castillo for a chance that was saved.

Spurs went ahead when Cirkin got down the left to put in a cross and Nartey turned it into his own net ahead of Tracey. Lyons-Foster was first into the ref's book for a foul on Gilmour and was followed soon after by Tanganga. Maghoma had played in Bennett to win a corner from the save by Cumming but when Castillo looked to break away the Spurs captain fouled him on the halfway line. Bennett ran onto a loose ball by Guehi but hit it wide.

A ball over the top saw Radan get into the area and with Tanganga losing the race he pulled him back. It could have been a straight red as the last man but the ref showed him a yellow followed by the red. Gilmour scored from the spot putting the ball to Austin's right. Marsh dropped into the back four with four in front of them. In added time Gallagher hit a free kick wide of the left post.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Chelsea push for a second goal. Taylor-Crossdale had an early chance chesting the ball goalwards from Maatsen's cross but Austin saved it. Gallagher fired wide before a ball down the line by Bennett to Maghoma gave Spurs a chance which was blocked for a corner. From the corner by White, Tracey saw his far post header blocked.

The visitors sent on another striker in search of that second goal. Radan put the ball into the net from a cross by Ampadu but the flag was raised for offside. Tracey was booked for an accummalation of fouls as indicated by the referee. Gallagher had a couple of efforts, one of which was saved by Austin before he was booked for a late tackle on Tracey.

A White free kick was touched wide for a corner before the "Blues" made their second change. Gallagher hit a free kick over before Maghoma fired over at the other end. Taylor-Crossdale headed over a cross from Uwakwe before Spurs made their first two changes. Duncan replaced Bennett in midfield and two minutes later Dinzeyi replaced Tracey up front.

Uwakwe hit the crossbar with an effort from the edge of the area and Taylor-Crossdale followed up to put the rebound over the bar. Austin saved from McCormick before Cirkin went down in the Chelsea area which the referee rightly deemed a dive and booked the Spurs player. With Spurs making breaks as Chelsea pushed forward, Ampadu was booked for a foul on Maghoma.

In the 90th minute a long ball found McCormick behind the Spurs defence and he advanced looking for the winner but Austin got his angles right and saved his shot which went back to the Chelsea striker to hit again. That was cleared off the line by Marsh who had been a rock in the defence after Tanganga's dismissal. McCormick had another effort saved by Austin in added time. Maghoma went down with cramp and was replaced for the final seconds by Shashoua despite the player wanting to continue.

Losing a player to Chelsea you would expect the worst but Spurs' ten men raised themselves up to not just hold out but to create chances for themselves in the second half. Spurs had been a match for Chelsea in the first half once they had weathered the early press. The draw ends Spurs run of poor results moving them up to ninth and opens a three point gap on West Ham in eleventh place. Next Friday Spurs travel to Leicester where they suffered a 6-1 mauling from the "Foxes" and had two players sent off. It should be an interesting squad for that game as the U-18 's will be playing in the morning.

Ray

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