Premier U-18 League, South, 2018-19
    Belvoir Drive, Aylestone, Leicester
    Saturday 1st December 2018, 11.30am

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

           0(0)            4(0)

    Oliver Bosworth  1  Joshua Oluwayemi
      Dennis Gyamfi  2  Jeremie Mukendi
      Luke Thomas(C) 3  Dennis Cirkin
   Ed Elewa-Ikpakwu  4  Harvey White
   Bright Arrey-Mbi  5  Jubril Okedina
   Justen Kranthove  6  Luis Binks
     Terell Pennant  7  Dilan Markanday
      Liam Loughlin  8  Armando Shashoua(C)
          Will Russ  9  Troy Parrott
     Sidnel Tavares 10  Rodel Richards
        Shane Flynn 11  Rayan Clarke

     Ethan Fitzhugh 12  Maxwell Statham
                        (2)6Mins
   Jakub Stolarczyk 13  Kacper Kurylowicz
      Dylan Bollard 14  Elliott Thorpe
          (4)69Mins     (4)63Mins
    Harrison Myring 15  Maurizio Pochettino
                        (7)63Mins
Dempsey Arlott-John 16  Chay Cooper

Scorers:-
                        Parrott 52, 62
                        Markanday 55
                        White (pen) 59

Coaches:- 
       Trevor Peake     Matt Wells

Referee:– Ben Cooke

Spurs travelled to Leicester on a rainy morning looking to continue their unbeaten run against the fourth placed "Foxes". Having briefly lost top spot to Arsenal Spurs regained that position last week by beating their North London rivals 3-2 thanks to two penalty saves by keeper Oluwayemi. Leicester drew 3-3 at Norwich on the same day. Last season Leicester won 4-2 recovering from going a goal down and being under the cosh.

Spurs lined up with Oluwayemi behind Okedina and Binks with Mukendi filling in at right back and Cirkin on the left. White anchored the midfield with Shashoua and Richards ahead of him. They were flanked by Markanday on the right and Clarke on the left in support of Parrott up front.

It was a tight first half with both sides pressing but the visitors had most of the possession. Spurs had to make an early change as Mukendi was injuried as he tried to get past Thomas and was replaced by Statham which restricted support for Markanday on the flank.

The home side had the first chance when Gyamfi crossed for Tavares to fire over. Cirkin got forward swapping passes with Richards before hitting wide. Loughlin played in Pennant to fire over and before the break Tavares played in Flynn to shoot wide which were the only other attempts on goal in the half. I think the referee blew early as he was recovering from getting in the way of the ball which produced a few oohs from the spectators(and a few laughs).

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Spurs step up a gear in search of a win. There was good work by Shashoua to play in Parrott for the opener, which the striker hit into the top corner. Parrott played in Clarke and when his effort was blocked on the line Markanday was quick to knock in the loose ball.

When Arrey-Mbi tripped Cirkin in the area Spurs had a penalty which was taken by White who sent the keeper the wrong way for the third. Parrott finished off the scoring when he turned in Clarke's pull back at the near post.

With the game won, Spurs made a double change taking off White and Markanday, who had played the whole game against Inter in midweek. Thorpe went into midfield with Pochettino going to the right flank.

With Spurs on the front foot they were caught out when Pennant ran onto a through ball and won a penalty when Oluwayemi cleared the ball at his feet. For the fourth time in a row the Spurs keeper saved the spot kick diving to his left to turn Thomas's kick around the post.

Spurs were happy to see out the game while the "Foxes" pushed for a consolation. They nearly got it when Thomas hit the crossbar with a free kick. Oluwayemi saved from Flynn before he took a knock but was able after treatment to continue. Binks had been given the spare keeper's jersey as Oluwayemi was being treated just in case. Binks took a hit at a corner and despite the players surrounding the culprit the referee did not show a card.

It was a very tight first half with few chances but Spurs' possession told in the second with four well taken goals to keep Spurs on top into the new year. Their next league game will be at home to Swansea in the 5th January. They will be involved in a number of cup games during December with Barcelona next, followed by Millwall in the FA Youth Cup.

Ray

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