Premier League 2, Division 1, 2018-19
     Hotspur Way, Whitewebbs Lane, Enfield
      Friday 7th December 2018, 12 noon

           SPURS     v     EVERTON
       (White/Blue)     (Blue/White)
          4-1-4-1          4-2-3-1

            2(2)             2(1)

     Brandon Austin  1  Mateusz Hewelt
        Tariq Hinds  2  Con Ouzounidis
        Jaden Brown  3  Harry Charsley
       George Marsh  4  Einar Iversen
  Japhet Tanganga(C) 5  Tyias Browning
      Timothy Eyoma  6  Morgan Feeney(C)
Tashan Oakley-Boothe 7  Anthony Evans
       Dylan Duncan  8  Dennis Adeniran
   Kazaiah Sterling  9  Bassala Sambou
         Jack Roles 10  Nathan Broadhead
   Anthony Georgiou 11  Josh Bowler

     Jamie Reynolds 12  Ryan Astley
      Thomas Glover 13  Joe Hilton
    Dilan Markanday 14  Manasse Mampala
         (11)75Mins     (9)60Mins
       Harvey White 15  Ellis Sims
                        (10)60Mins
     Rodel Richards 16  Anthony Gordon
                        (7)74Mins

Scorers:-
       Roles 33         Sambou 41
       Sterling 35      Gordon 86

Booked:-
                        Charsley 42(Foul)
                        Bowler 75(Late)
                        Iversen 78(Late)

Coach:-
      Wayne Burnett     David Unsworth

Referee:– Jack Morgan
Assistants:– Mike Desborough & Michael Smith
Fourth Official:– Luigi Lungarella

It was a cool rainy morning for the visit of second placed Everton to Hotspur Way. The "Toffees" had lost 1-0 to local rivals Liverpool in their last game whereas Spurs dropped two points to Chelsea in a game they had won last time out. Last season Everton had done the double over Spurs winning 2-1 at Hotspur Way. The Merseysiders have already inflicted a 6-0 hammering at Goodison this season and were looking to do the double again.

Spurs lined up with Austin in goal behind Tanganga and Eyoma with Hinds at right back and Brown on the left. Marsh anchored the midfield with Duncan and Roles ahead of him. They were flanked by Oakley-Boothe on the right and, returning from injury, Georgiou on the left in support of Sterling up front.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North end in a fairly tight game that saw both sides locked in a midfield contest as they looked to restrict each other. It took ten minutes before the first chance on goal, which was by Spurs, when Roles won a corner from Hewelt's save. That corner produced a second from which Tanganga headed wide.

Spurs gave away a number of balls at the back and were lucky not to have been punished when Adeniran forced a save from Austin for a corner. Georgiou fired over from a Roles pass as Spurs began to get through the Everton defence. Oakley-Boothe was caught late after he had played the ball through Browning's legs, but Sterling and Roles got in each other's way with only the keeper to beat to miss the chance.

Hinds fired over before Sterling played in Roles to hit wide for a corner. From the corner Tanganga got up to head towards the goal and Roles nipped in to score off the underside of the crossbar.

Everton were caught out again when Georgiou played in Sterling to step inside and score low into the near side. The visitors changed tack from just holding Spurs in midfield to looking to get forward more with Bowler firing over. Bowler got down the left again crossing low into the middle for Sambou to score from a yard out. Charsley was booked for stopping Oakley-Boothe beating him again to keep the pressure on the Spurs goal with Bowler drawing a save before the break.

There were no changes for the start of the second half when Spurs took control, with Sterling having a shot cleared off the line. Everton made a double change to try and get some attacking play going. Browning headed wide from a free kick by Adeniran before they made their third change. They were having no joy from the changes and Bowler was booked for a late challenge on Brown as Spurs were passing the ball more confidently.

Spurs made one change taking off Georgiou for Markanday who played on the left and caused problems for the Everton defenders. Iversen was booked for a late tackle before Bowler fired over. Duncan pulled the ball back for Roles but his effort went over for a corner. Spurs gave the ball away for Mampala to get down the left and cross for Gordon to score a "get out of jail" equaliser. Spurs still had a chance to take all three points when Markanday played in Sterling but his effort was blocked.

For the second game in a row, Spurs dropped two points conceding a late goal when in control of the game. The point does take them above West Ham but three against Everton after the result at Goodison would have been better. Spurs' next game will be at Manchester City on Saturday the 15th of December. It has been moved from Sunday which, because Spurs are playing Burnley at Wembley, I cannot now attend. It will also be played behind closed doors as City are at home to Everton across the road. That is not good timing but fixture congestion means what is usually a good game will not be seen by anyone. Spurs will take on Liverpool in January at Stevenage on the 7th after the Christmas break.

Ray

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