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

    Premier League 2, First Division 2018-19
     Holmes Park, Whetstone, Leicestershire
          Friday 8th March 2019, 7pm

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

             1(1)              2(0)

       Eldin Jakupovic  1  Brandon Austin
    Lamine Kaba Sherif  2  Tariq Hinds
      Calvin Ughelumba  3  Dennis Cirkin
 Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall  4  Harvey White
         Sam Hughes(C)  5  Brooklyn Lyons-Foster
          Alex Pascanu  6  Jonathan Dinzeyi
         Callum Wright  7  Tashan Oakley-Boothe
      Khanya Leshabela  8  George Marsh(C)
        Admiral Muskwe  9  Shilow Tracey
         Layton Ndukwu 10  Paris Maghoma
          Taylor Allen 11  J'Neil Bennett

         George Heaven 12  Dylan Duncan
                           (10)83Mins
      Viktor Johansson 13  Jonathan De Bie
          Tyrese Shade 14  Jack Roles
            (11)75Mins     (7)33Mins
        Sidnei Tavares 15  Malachi Walcott
             Ryan Loft 16  Dilan Markanday
            (10)79Mins

Scorers:-
             Hughes 19     Roles 48, 81

Booked:-
       Ndukwu 68(Late)     Bennett 61(Late)
       Hughes 90+1(Late)   Tracey 88(KBA)
                           Marsh 90+3(UGC)

Sent Off:-
     Ughelumba 90(Violent conduct)

Coaches:-
      Steve Beaglehole     Wayne Burnett

Attendance:– 193

Referee:– Peter Gibbins
Assistants:– Martin Chester & Steve Durnall
Fourth Official:– Kenwyn Hughes 

Spurs travelled to Leicester on a rainy evening for an inportant game having slipped to tenth in the table, just above the relegation places, after last weeks draw with Chelsea when Spurs played over half the game with ten men. It was a good time to play Leicester who lost to Manchester City in their last game which was their third loss in a row. Last season Spurs suffered a 6-1 defeat here after having two players sent off in a rain-affected game (Skipp's red was recinded later). Spurs beat the "Foxes" 1-0 at Hotspur Way earlier in the season.

Spurs lined up with Austin in goal behind Lyons-Foster and the returning Dinzeyi with Hinds 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. It was good to see Markanday on the bench after playing an hour of the U-18 game at Reading. On the Leicester bench was former young spur Ryan Loft.

Spurs defended the North end in the first half which saw the home side battle for control of the midfield, hitting the ball long for their pacy forwards. The physical nature of their tackling stopped Spurs from settling into their passing game and put pressure on the defenders by pressing high. Tracey found himself on his own up front chasing long balls against physical defenders. He won an early free kick off Hughes collecting a ball from Oakley-Boothe. White hit the free kick wide.

Austin saved from Sherif conceding a corner from which Hughes headed down only to see it bounce over the bar. Marsh played in Tracey to fire over before Ndukwu hit a free kick over at the other end.

Bennett won a corner from Jakupovic's save from which Lyons-Foster had his header blocked. Leicester took the lead when a corner was only half-cleared and Hughes scored, shooting through a crowd of players.

Austin saved a fierce drive by Muskwe before Spurs made their first change with Roles replacing Oakley-Boothe. White had a long range effort go wide before Allen drew a save from Austin and Maghoma saw an effort fly wide at the end of the half.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Austin save Hughes' header from a free kick that went for a corner. Spurs equalised when Cirkin got down the left and pulled the ball back for Roles to finish, with a shot going in off the far post with Hinds there just in case.

Bennett picked up Spurs' first booking of the match when he dived in to try and rescue a loose ball. Ndukwu was the next in the ref's book as he dived in late to stop another run by Cirkin. The "Foxes" should have regained the lead but Muskwe turned Wright's cross over the bar from about six yards. Looking for that second goal Leicester sent on Loft for his aerial prowess.

Spurs took the lead when Roles sent Hinds away down the right and got to the near post to turn in his cross for his and Spurs second. Spurs then replaced Maghoma with Duncan as they sought to see out the game. Tracey was booked for kicking the ball away after a foul had been conceded. Leicester pushed for a goal and Leshabela had an effort blocked while Hughes was booked for stopping Bennett getting away.

The game was spoilt at the end when Ughelumba took exception to Marsh's foul on the byline and headbutted him to receive a straight red from the ref who also booked Marsh for his part. Ughelumba had had a go at Tracey earlier in the game after he had dumped the Spurs striker off the pitch in the same place. The ref wasted no time in blowing the final whistle before anything else could happen.

Roles continued his great goalscoring season with a brace in a scrappy match. Leicester set out to battle for the points with only Dewsbury-Hall showing skill on the ball. The home side went close to taking the points but Spurs' better skills came through. After being hustled out of it by the home side at the beginning, Spurs gradually got into the game to finish the better side. The win takes Spurs back above Blackburn Rovers who they will play next at White Hart Lane in April. (Ed: To be confirmed)

Ray

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