Premier U-18 League, Southern Group 2019-20
       Hotspur Way, Whitewebbs Lane, Enfield
        Saturday 5th October 2019, 12 noon

             SPURS      v    ASTON VILLA
          (White/Blue)      (Claret/Blue)

            4-1-4-1            4-2-3-1

              2(0)               4(0)

     Kacper Kurylowicz  1  Akos Onodi
          Kallum Cesay  2  Brad Burton
          Dermi Lusala  3  Seb Revan
             Nile John  4  Paul Appiah
           Marque Muir  5  Myles Sohna(C)
       Dennis Cirkin(C) 6  Harrison Sohna
        Romaine Mundle  7  Kaine Kessler
            Max Robson  8  Carney Chukwuemmeka
            Kion Etete  9  Brad Young
         Dane Scarlett 10  Aaron Ramsey
           Chay Cooper 11  Charlie Farr

       Rafferty Pedder 12  Tristan Goodridge
                           (7)39Mins
   Thimothee Lo-Tutala 13  Filip Marschall
           Yago Alonso 14  Mo Sylla
             (8)77Mins     (6)70Mins
    Tarrelle Whittaker 15  Hayden Lindley
             (7)67Mins     (8)77Mins
        J'Neil Bennett 16  Rajan Raikhy
             (4)62Mins

Scorers:-
           Scarlett 83     Farr 61
          Whittaker 87     Ramsey 66
                           Young 74
                           Sylla 80

Booked:-
      Bennett 79(Push)     M. Sohna 32(Push)
                           Appiah 55(Foul) 

Coach:-
        Matthew Taylor     Richard Beale

Ref:– Michael Smith

It was a cool overcast morning for the the visit of Aston Villa to Hotspur Way as Spurs looked to recover from the midweek game in the U-19 Champions Youth League which was played in a thunderstorm. Spurs won two weeks ago 2-0 at Southampton while Villa lost 3-0 to Fulham. Last season Spurs did the double over Villa with a 6-1 home win in a great campaign.

With youth Internationals next week Spurs had to dig deep for today's squad. Kurylowicz was in goal behind Muir and the returning Cirkin filling in at the back. Cesay was at right back and Lusala on the left. John anchored the midfield with Robson and Scarlett ahead of him Mundle was on the right flank and Cooper on the left in support of Etete up front. It was good to see Bennett back from injury on the bench.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the West end but found it hard to settle against the visitors' press. Villa had plenty of pace up front and Young played in Ramsey for an early chance that hit the bar. Young then drew a save from Kurylowicz as Spurs' defence was caught out. Cooper had Spurs' first effort on the quarter hour mark which was saved for a corner. From the corner Muir had an overhead kick saved by Onodi.

Sohna was booked for a push on Etete during a period of “last warnings” by the ref to Villa players. The lively Farr fired wide near the end of the half after Villa had a player replaced due to injury.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw the visitors continue to put the Spurs defence under pressure with Appiah going into the ref's book.

Muir blocked an effort by Young when he was played through by Farr. Kurylowicz saved a fierce drive by Farr but was caught out by a snap shot from the edge of the area by the same player that gave the "Villans" the lead. Spurs took off John for Bennett who went to the left side with Cooper moving to the anchor role.

Villa had their tails up after the goal and looked to push home their advantage with Ramsey scoring from distance to double their lead. Spurs' second change saw Whittaker come on in place of Mundle on the right as they tried to get back in the game.

Harrison Sohna fired wide from distance as Villa pushed forward. Muir cleared off the line when Young beat Kurylowicz, before Bennett drew a save by Odoni at his far post for a corner. Bennett had another effort saved before Villa got a third goal when Young outpaced Muir to reach a through ball and score.

Spurs made their last change sending on Alonso for Robson in midfield. Bennett won another corner from the keeper's save before he was booked for a push while chasing back. Kurylowicz saved from Sylla before the Villa man was set up by Ramsey for their fourth goal.

Spurs responded well and when Etete tried his luck from the left Odoni could not hold his effort and Scarlett nipped in to score. Kurylowicz saved from Young before Whittaker got down the right and pulled the ball back for Cooper to draw a save from Odoni. Cooper had now switched to right back to allow Cesay to anchor the midfield.

Lusala got forward down the left channel and chipped the ball over the Villa defence for Whittaker to run onto and score across the keeper to reduce the arrears to 2-4. Spurs were not able to add to their score and Revan got forward to fire wide from a ball by Young before the end.

This was a poor performance by what could be called a makeshift Spurs side. There were signs that they could and should have done better and I expect as the season progresses they will improve. The whole club seems to be going through a bad patch at the moment but I know that there is quality there and they will come through it.

Villa move above Spurs in the table with Spurs' next game being a trip to Arsenal who are two points below us having beaten Reading 1-0 today. That will be in two weeks time. Next week there is a trip to Colchester United for an U-21 game in the Leasing.com Trophy on Tuesday evening in which Spurs have only won once in eight games so far. It will be interesting to see what side Spurs can put out.

Ray

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