FA Premier Academy League – South
   Spurs Lodge, Luxborough Lane, Chigwell
     Saturday 25th August 2007, 11.02am
  
           SPURS     v    EVERTON   
        (All White)     (All Blue)
           4-5-1          4-4-2
 
            0(0)           1(1)

         Lee Butcher 1 Michael McEntagart
     Takura Mtandari 2 Michael Stewart
      Yuri Berchiche 3 Moses Barnett
      Yasser Kasim(C)4 Cory Sinnott
      Callum Butcher 5 James McCarten
         Chris Casey 6 Hope Akpan
        Dean Parrett 7 Jose Baxter
     Daniel Hutchins 8 George Krenn
       Tomas Pekhart 9 Kieran Agard
    Andros Townsend 10 Lewis Codling
     Jonathan Obika 11 Danny Redmond

  Kyle Fraser-Allen 12 Karl Sheppard
          (9)74Mins    (9)88Mins
       James Dalton 13 Lars Stubhaug
         Alex Olsen 14 Lee McArdle
         (11)85Mins
        Sol Asajile 15 James Wallace
                       (7)63Mins
            Sam Cox 16 Connor McAlerney

Coach:-
       A. Inglethope   K. Sheedy

Scorers:-
                       Codling  41
Bookings:-
 Berchiche 63 (Foul)

Referee:- D.Burnden

It was a warm sunny morning (I kept my coat on – just in case) with about one hundred people watching our opening home game of the season. A lot of the senior Youth and Reserves also came to watch during the second half after their training session along with Chris Hughton and Clive Allen and also Hans Segers.

The team lined up with Butcher and Casey at the back with Mtandari at right back and Berchiche on the left. Kasim and Hutchins in central midfield with Parrett on the right side and Obika on the left and Townsend just in front providing support for Pekhart.

After a minute's silence, (which I suggested to the referee for Everton fan Rhys Jones, who was tragically killed during the week) Spurs kicked off attacking the South goal.

Both sides looked evenly matched with a lot of the play being in the middle of the park. In the third minute Agard was released but his shot was held by Butcher with a bit of difficulty at the near post. Spurs' first attempt was a header from Pekhart saved by McEntagart in the ninth minute. This was followed by a low shot by Kasim through the crowd.

Parrett made a great run down the right from inside his own half, dribbling past three Everton players before crossing to the far post for Obika, whose weak effort was saved. Obika had a better effort a few minutes later. Parrett and Obika had other attempts in the opening half hour before Everton troubled Butcher again when he saved from Agard. The Toffees seemed to be content to pack the midfield and look for the breaks which came with five minutes of the half left. Agard was fed the ball on the left and he went to the line and pulled the ball back for Codling to beat the keeper via a deflection.

The second half was much like the first with the visitors sitting back allowing Spurs to come onto them and looking for an opening to exploit. They dug in and the tackling began to get heavier as the home side became more frustrated trying to find a way through. Berchiche was booked for a foul as he tried to dig out the ball on the sideline in one attack.

After Townsend had put a shot over the bar Inglethorpe moved him to the right wing and Parrett in the centre behind Pekhart. Despite being left footed Townsend did manage to make a couple of good runs down the wing which came to nothing. The coach then brought on Fraser-Allen to play on the right switching Townsend to his more natural left with Obika pushed up front. As this did not provide many more chances he replaced Obika with Olsen with five minutes left.

By now Everton were closing out the game by defending in depth hardly coming out of their half. They won a corner but kept three back and another two lying deep as they slowed the game to run the clock down. In the final minutes Hutchins and Olsen had chances, but despite an extra six minutes failed to break down the visitors.

This was a disappointing result for a close fought game in which we had a few chances to score but lost to a single goal in a tight match. The visitors handled Pekhart well, although he did not play well. Olsen has disappointed during his time at the club, and was only given a few minutes which suggests Inglethorpe may feel the same.

I’m not sure why Parrett was played on the wing as I thought that he was a central midfielder and we have wide players in Townsend, Obika and Fraser-Allen. Everton are no pushovers and play tight just like their first team giving little away. I am sure things will improve as the side settle into a pattern of play, but it looks like we need a striker.

Ray

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