Premier U-18 Southern League 2018-19
    Hotspur Way, Whitewebbs Lane, Enfield
       Saturday 5th January 2019, 11am

            SPURS     v    SWANSEA
         (White/Blue)   (Orange/Black)
           4-1-4-1          4-5-1

             1(1)            0(0)

    Joshua Oluwayemi  1  Nathan Shepperd
      Jubril Okedina  2  Ryan Bevan
       Dennis Cirkin  3  Owen Evans
        Harvey White  4  Jacob Jones
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster 5  Cameron Evans(C)
          Luis Binks  6  Jake Thomas
        Rayan Clarke  7  Tivonge Rushesha
       Paris Maghoma  8  Dan Williams
      Rodel Richards  9  Bradley Gibbings
  Dilan Markanday(C) 10  Mason Jones-Thomas
      J'Neil Bennett 11  William Rickard

     Maxwell Statham 12  Jayden Reid
                         (11)59Mins
   Kacper Kurylowicz 13  Scott Reed
      Maximus Tainio 14  Shaq Wynter-Coles
           (5)46Mins     (9)59Mins
      Elliott Thorpe 15  Marc Walsh
           (7)77Mins
         Chay Cooper 16  Connor Shields
           (9)85Mins

Scorers:-
          Maghoma 23

Booked:-
                         Williams 13(Foul)

Coach:-    
          Matt Wells     Jon Grey

Referee:– Joseph Stokes

It was a cold morning for the resumption of the league after the Christmas break with Swansea City the visitors at Hotspur Way. Spurs' fantastic start to the season has seen them unbeaten into the break finishing with a 2-2 draw at Middlesborough in the Premier League Cup to qualify for the quarter-finals, the only southern side do so. Struggling Swansea drew with with Fulham 1-1 in their last game which moved them off the bottom of the table. Spurs had beaten them earlier in the season 5-1 at Landore.

Spurs lined up with Oluwayemi in goal behind Lyons-Foster and Binks with Okedina at right back with Cirkin on the left. White anchored the midfield with Markanday and Maghoma ahead of him. They were flanked by Clarke on the right and Bennett on the left in support of Richards up front.

Spurs kicked off attacking the North end against a well organised defence that closed down quickly to prevent the passing game of the home side. City did a good job in stopping the passing game and preventing chances on their goal. The tigerish tackling saw Williams get an early booking for a foul on Markanday. From the free kick, taken by White, Shepperd saved Richards' close range effort.

A ball over the top gave Bennett a chance that was hit wide. Spurs scored thanks to Richards robbing Thomas as he dwelt on the ball. The Spurs striker got to the line and pulled the ball back for the late run of Maghoma, who scored. Spurs looked to build on their lead with a weak effort by Bennett saved and a much better one by Richards from a Markanday pass that won a corner.

It was not all one way as a Swansea break saw Jones-Thomas fire wide. Another ball over the top by White saw Bennett force another save from Shepperd. The last chance of the half fell to Lyons-Foster who turned over a cross by White following a short corner.

Spurs made one change for the start of the second half with Lyons-Foster being replaced by Tainio who went to right back with Okedina moving inside. Spurs continued to try to break down the visitors' defence with Bennett forcing a save and a minute later having another effort saved having been played in by Tainio. Binks put in the loose ball but was ruled offside.

Jones-Thomas had another effort over the bar before Maghoma drew a save. With fifteen minutes to go Swansea made a double change to pep up their attack which did not help, but their defence continued to frustrate Spurs. Thorpe replaced Clarke who had been working the left flank to allow Bennett to move up front with Richards.

Markanday, who had moved to the right flank, crossed for Maghoma to fire over. Thorpe got into the action firing over from Cirkin's pass and then forcing a save from Markanday's cross. Spurs' last change saw Cooper replace Richards in midfield to see out the game. Markanday came inside to try his luck but Shepperd was equal to his attempt as the game came to an end.

Swansea stopped Spurs from hitting a hatful of goals as they did in their last meeting but offered little in attack themselves. They had obviously done their homework as Markanday received close attention as did Bennett who had scored a hat-trick in Swansea. The win keeps Spurs on top of the league as both Arsenal and Chelsea won as well. Spurs travel to Brighton next. The "Seagulls" lost at Arsenal 3-1.

Ray

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