Premier U-18 League, Southern Group, 2018-19
      White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London, N17
           Sunday 24th March 2019, 3pm

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

               3(2)             1(0)

      Joshua Oluwayemi  1  Jack Bycroft
        Jubril Okedina  2  Kayne Ramsay(C)
         Dennis Cirkin  3  James Morris
          Oliver Skipp  4  Caleb Watts
       Malachi Walcott  5  Oludare Olofunwa
 Brooklyn Lyons-Foster  6  Alan Tchaptchet
       Dilan Markanday  7  Rio Glean
          Harvey White  8  Alex Jankewitz
          Rayan Clarke  9  Benni Smales-Braithwaite
   Armando Shashoua(C) 10  Jack Turner
        J'Neil Bennett 11  Kornelius Hansen

       Maxwell Statham 12  Ryan Cluett
             (2)78Mins
     Kacper Kurylowicz 13  Oliver Wright
           Chay Cooper 14  Pascal Kpohomouh
             (9)70Mins     (7)46Mins
        Elliott Thorpe 15  Lucas Defise
                           (4)85Mins.
   Maurizio Pochettino 16  Roland Idowu
            (11)78Mins     (10)78Mins

Scorers:-
         Bennett 11        Hansen 61
         White 20 (pen)
         Markanday 77

Booked:-
                           Jankewitz 80(Foul)

Coach:-
       John McDermott      Paul Hardyman

Attendance:– 28,987

Referee:– Craig Pullen
Assistants:– David Moreno-Rojas & Andrew Hickman
Fourth Official:– Tim Donnellan

It was a bright sunny afternoon for the first game at the new home of Tottenham Hotspur on the site of the original White Hart Lane ground which has the rather tame title of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The game was the first test event and limited to 30,000 which - being the first chance for fans to be in the state of the art venue - almost reached that limit. Spurs' unbeaten U-18 team had the honour of being the first to play a competitive match at the new White Hart Lane with Southampton the visitors. Spurs beat Norwich City 3-0 in their last game which was matched by Southampton in their victory over Swansea City. Earlier in the season Spurs beat Southampton 5-2 in a match that was closed to visiting supporters. Last season at Hotspur Way Southampton drew 1-1 with Spurs.

Spurs lined up with Oluwayemi in goal behind Walcott and Lyons-Foster with Okedina at right back and Cirkin on the left. Skipp anchored the midfield with Shashoua and White ahead of him. They were flanked by Markanday on the right and Bennett on the left in support of Clarke up front. Ryan Mason was alongside McDermott in the dugout and there was a half-time interview with Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino who was able to see his son Maurizio come off the bench.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the "Paxton Road End" and their quick passing game soon saw them get on top of the South coast side. An early foul on Markanday by Watts gave White a free kick 20 yards out which he kept low but which was saved by Bycroft. Markanday swung in a cross from the right and captain Shashoua headed just wide.

With just over ten minutes of the game gone Spurs took the lead when Skipp threaded the ball to Bennett to the left of the area for him to come inside and curl his shot inside the far post. Markanday was busy as he picked up the ball in the centre circle and drove forward to draw a save from Bycroft. It was the little wideman who got to the goal-line and won a penalty as Morris pulled him back. Regular penalty taker White stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way, putting the ball into the bottom right corner to double Spurs' lead.

Bennett got down the left to whip in a cross that just missed Shashoua and Markanday in the area. Bennett fired wide on the half hour mark before Oluwayemi made his first save at the feet of Smales-Braithwaite when Hansen pulled the ball back on the left. Another cross from Bennett was met by the leaping Markanday but the ball hit Tchaptchet knocking him out. Markanday had another effort before the break that went wide.

The visitors made one change for the start of the second half which continued as the first half finished. Markanday played in Clarke to draw a save before the wideman had another effort blocked. Shashoua had a shot fly wide before Skipp drew a save. The visitors pulled a goal back when White was caught on the ball by Taylor who played in Hansen to beat Oluwayemi at his right post.

White played a through ball for Clarke to fire wide under pressure. That was the last involvement by the Spurs striker who was replaced by Cooper who went to the left flank as Bennett moved up front. Oluwayemi saved from Taylor before Spurs increased their lead. White hit an early effort from outside the area which Bycroft could not hold and Markanday was quickest to the loose ball to cap a fine performance with a goal.

Spurs made a double change with Statham replacing Okedina at right back and Pochettino replacing Bennett going to the right flank. Jankewitz picked up the only booking of the match for a foul on Pochettino as he ran into the right channel. Smales-Braithwaite had an effort blocked before Cooper fired wide. In added time Smales-Braithwaite drew a save from Oluwayemi before the final whistle of the first game at the new stadium.

This was another good performance by the unbeaten Spurs side as they battle with local rivals Arsenal for the Southern group title. The win closes the gap to the leaders to one point with a game in hand. That game will be away to Chelsea three days before the trip to Arsenal. Markanday is continuing the good form from before his injury in January that saw him miss a month when Spurs were knocked out of two cup tournaments. On Saturday Spurs entertain Fulham, who held them to a 1-1 draw at Motspur Park in february. This game will be held back at Hotspur Way.

Ray

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