FA Premier Academy League – South
    Spurs Lodge, Luxborough Lane, Chigwell
       Saturday 10th November 2007, 11am
 
        SPURS        V         WATFORD     
    (All White)              (Yellow/Black)
        4-5-1                   4-4-2
 
         3(2)                    2(1)
 
     David Button(C) 1 Jonathan North
    Takura Mtandari  2 Lee Hodson
     Yuri Benchiche  3 Louis Lavers
       Dean Parrett  4 Ross Jenkins
     Callum Butcher  5 Raphael Brown
     Steven Caulker  6 Dale Bennett(C) 
  Kyle Fraser-Allen  7 Micheal Bryan
    Daniel Hutchins  8 Rob Kiernan 
     Jonathan Obika  9 Liam Henderson
         Ryan Mason 10 Marvin Sordell
    Andros Townsend 11 Billy Gibson

         Mark Clare 12 Fabrice Otshudi
         (2)85Mins.    (7)78Mins.
       James Dalton 13 John Bond
       David Hutton 14 Eddie Oshodi
       (10)63Mins.     (10)67Mins.
       Yasser Kasim 15 Loren Maxwell
       (6)77Mins. 
         Alex Olsen 16 

Scorers:-
     Mason 8, 32       Henderson 17                  
     Hutton 81(pen)    Kiernan 90

Coach:-
     A. Inglethope     S. Dyche

Ref:-   A. Groves

It was a cold windy morning under a cloudy sky for the visit of Watford on the day before Remembrance day. I was joined by Paul Smith with a small crowd of visitors to watch Spurs try to build on their victory of last week.

Spurs lined up with a new face in the back line as Caulker stepped up from the U-16 to partner Butcher at the back with Mtandari at right back and Berchiche at left back. Parrett and Hutchins lined up in centre midfield with Fraser-Allen in the right wing and Townsend on the left. Obika played up front with Mason in the hole behind.

Spurs kicked off attacking the South goal and quickly settled into a passing game. The ball was played from the middle to either wing where the wingers were supported by the full backs. Spurs also fired balls to Obika who would run at the defence or lay the ball back for Mason, Parrett or Hutchins. Obika was faced by Brown and Bennett who closed him down quickly giving him no space to move and generally putting him on the floor.

Within ten minutes Fraser-Allen centred the ball for Obika who managed to knock the ball back while on the ground for Mason to make space to his right before driving low to the keepers left for the opening goal. With the full backs pushing up in support of the wingers Watford played the ball behind for Bryan to whip the ball in for Jenkins who headed over. The warning was not heeded as Bryan again got down the right and this time Henderson made no mistake to level.

Spurs began to apply pressure and North had to save from Hutchins and save at the feet of Obika before Mason got his head to Fraser-Allen’s centre after the ball had been worked from the left wing across to him. Fraser-Allen tried a dipping volley from 20yds which North had to push over the bar. Mason had two more chances to complete his hat trick with headers but neither was on target. Caulker almost marked his debut with a goal when his header hit the post from a free kick. Button saved from Bryan as the half ended.

The second half started the same way as the first with North having to save twice from Mason before Parrett put another cross wide. Mason had at least four bad knocks during the game, so it was no surprise to see Inglethorpe take him off, to be replaced by Hutton. Despite the domination of the home side, the Hornets still threatened on the break and Henderson headed over at the end of an isolated attack when Berchiche was caught out of position.

Obika kept up the assault forcing another save from the overworked North. Kasim came on for the tiring Caulker going into midfield with Berchiche going into the centre and Hutchins moving to left back. Townsend fired an angled drive over before Hutton was tripped as he ran into the box for a penalty. David took it himself and drove the ball low to the keepers left. North got a hand to it but could not stop it.

Spurs eased up a little and Watford pushed forward looking to pull a goal back which they did when Oshodi crossed from the right for Kiernan to score at the far post. The visitors kept looking for an unlikely equalizer until the Ref blew for time.

This was a fairly one-sided game which Spurs should have had sewn up before half time, but finished with only a one goal margin. With the Hornets' centre-backs taking no prisoners almost all our attacks came from the wings where Townsend and Fraser-Allen provided good service. Paul feels that because of his adventurous nature that Berchiche should play in midfield as he was caught up field so many times, but with our wingers I feel that he should be coached to drop back quicker.

Next week the U-18’s will be away at Bristol City where I hope the weather will be better than last time. The pitch was a mud heap and I was soaked through. Bristol moved into third place above Reading after beating them 5-0 today to remain a point above Spurs who stay fifth.

Ray

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