Premier League 2, First Division 2019-20
     The County Ground, Leyland, Lancashire
        Monday 23rd September 2019, 7pm

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

              4(1)            0(0)

           Joe Hilton   1   Brandon Austin
        Charley Doyle   2   Tariq Hinds
       Lewis Thompson   3   Harvey White
      Jacob Davenport   4   Jamie Bowden(C)
           Sam Barnes   5   Jonathan Dinzeyi
         Joe Grayson(C) 6   Brooklyn Lyons-Foster
          Stefan Mols   7   Dilan Markanday
           Brad Lyons   8   Paris Maghoma
       Dominic Samuel   9   Phoenix Patterson
            Jack Vale  10   Tashan Oakley-Boothe
  Joe Rankin-Costello  11   Shilow Tracey

            Tom White  12   Timothy Eyoma
       Jordan Eastham  13   Joshua Oluwayemi
      Isaac Whitehall  14   Jubril Okedina
                            (5)75Mins
  Flavien Enzo Boyomo  15   Maurizio Pochettino
         Luke Brennan  16   (9)68 Mins

Scorers:-
    Samuel 22, 57, 82
    Mols 69 

Booked:-
      Grayson 83(UGC)       Dinzeyi 72(Foul)
   Rankin-Costello 84       Bowden 83(Foul)

Coaches:-
           Billy Barr       Wayne Burnett

Attendance:– 335

Referee:– Steven Copeland
Assistants:– Lewis Raper & Michael Burrows
Fourth Official:– Alexander Beckett 

Spurs travelled to the Lancashire FA ground in Leyland on a rainy evening to play Blackburn Rovers. Last year Spurs produced one of their best displays to beat Rovers 3-1 here in a season when both sides struggled and just avoided relegation. Blackburn thrashed Spurs in the return at Stevenage 3-0 to save themselves from relegation. Spurs surrendered a two goal lead at home to Southampton in their last game while Blackburn lost to league leaders Everton 2-1.

Spurs lined up with Austin in goal behind Dinzeyi and Lyons-Foster with Hinds at right back and White on the left. Bowden anchored the midfield with Oakley-Boothe and Maghoma ahead of him. They were flanked by Markanday on the right and Tracey on the left in support of Patterson up front. With the League Cup at Colchester the following evening it was a short bench.

Spurs defended the North end in the first half which took a little while to settle as both sides pressed in the wet conditions and when Dinzeyi slipped, Rankin-Costello took advantage to break into the area but Austin saved his effort. Rovers took the lead from a corner that Barnes headed on at the near post for Samuel to get a touch. The goal gave the hosts the confidence to get forward and Rankin-Costello headed wide from a free kick just after the half hour mark. That was it in the first half.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Spurs begin brightly. Hilton saved an early chance by Patterson when he was played through by Dinzeyi. Not long after that Bowden also drew a save from Hilton. With Spurs pushing forward, a long ball by Lyons over the top was collected by Samuel who brushed off Hinds and stepped inside the onrushing Austin to score his and Rovers' second.

Lyons tried a long range effort from over 30 yards that was easy for Austin before Spurs made their first change. Patterson was replaced by Pochettino who went to the right flank with Markanday switching to the left and Tracey going up front. The changes did not have time to gel before Mols got down the right, exchanging passes with Vale, before firing in the third goal.

Mols had another run cutting inside before curling wide of the far post. Dinzeyi was booked for a crude foul on Samuel in the centre circle which naturally angered the home players. It did look as if Tracey was also booked but match records do not show it. Blackburn were now in full flow and after they had a header wide Spurs took off Dinzeyi and replaced him with Okedina.

Mols again got down the right and his cross was hit on the volley by Samuel for Blackburn's fourth. Bowden lost the ball to Mols in the middle of the pitch and when the Spurs midfielder lashed out at him it producted a conflagration between players on both sides. Bowden was booked as was Grayson. They were followed by Rankin-Costello a minute later for something I missed. Maghoma fired wide from a free kick by White before Vale was also wide at the other end. In added time Mols fired wide when played in by Doyle.

This was not a good performance by Spurs; not as bad as when they lost 3-0 at the end of last season, but they were second best here. They were not able to get their passing game going in the tricky conditions against a strong defence.

Ray

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