FA Premier Academy League - South
      Little Heath, Romford, Essex 
  Saturday 8th September 2007, 11.06am
 
       WEST HAM     v     SPURS 
    (Claret/Blue)      (All Yellow)   
        4-4-2          4-4-2/4-5-1

         3(2)              3(1)

   David Blackmore 1 Lee Butcher
     Ashley Miller 2 Sam Cox
         Blackwell 3 Daniel Hutchins
      Robbie Payne 4 Yasser Kasim(C)
     Jordan Spence 5 Chris Casey
            Harvey 6 Troy
                     Archibald-Henville
  Junior Stanislas 7 Kyle Fraser-Allen
        Oliver Lee 8 Jake Livermore
          Ben Hunt 9 Alex Olsen
            Hines 10 Terry Dixon
    Freddie Sears 11 Andros Townsend
 
           Ashman 12 Mark Clare
          O'Neill 13 James Dalton
           Kearns 14 Jonathan Obika
        (6)65Mins    (10) 39Mins
     Bondz N'Gala 15 Callum Butcher
        (2)73Mins    (6) 65Mins
         Matt Fry 16 Jamie Davis
        (7)80Mins    (9) 65Mins

Scorers:-
     Sears 3, 88     Fraser-Allen 34
     Stanislas 45    Livermore 47 
                     Olsen 60

Booked:-
Fitzgerald 56        Townsend 48(Trip)
(Foot up)
N'Gala 87(2 Footed)
Blackmore 90(Foul)   

Coach:-
        T.Carr       A.Inglethorpe

Referee:- G.Muge

As there were no team sheets some of the names are likely to be wrong for the home side so if I malign the wrong person I apologise now (Ed:- The team sheets have now been amended, but this does mean some of the West Ham names in the report may be inaccurate). This game unfortunately is likely to be remembered more for the injury to Terry Dixon than for the scoreline. Having just returned from a season-long injury he had to be taken off on a stretcher in pain with another injury to his leg. We will have to wait for the club to tell us how bad it was.

The morning was overcast with a little chill in the air as Spurs visited the second team from the other southern group. There was a good crowd of around eighty present for this local derby game. The start was delayed while one of the nets had to be repaired.

Spurs lined up with Archibald-Heville partnering Casey at the back with Cox on the right and Hutchins on the left. Kasim and Livermore in the middle with Fraser-Allen on the right wing and Townsend on the left. Dixon played up front with Olsen.

Spurs kicked off and won a free kick in only the second minute. The kick was floated to the far post for Livermore to hit first time against the post. From the rebound Casey hit the other post with his header before it was cleared. A minute later Spurs paid for that miss as a quickly taken throw-in caught them flat-footed and although Hunt hit the post with his shot, Sears was on hand to put in the rebound.

This led to a period of pressure from the home side where we were pinned in our own area. Sears, Stanislas and Lee all had efforts off target before Livermore was set up for a chance at the other end. Street held his weak effort.

Around the half hour mark we had a shout for a penalty, and also Dixon had a goal disallowed for offside. We were still very much under pressure when Dixon got away on the right and worked his way down the line before squaring for Fraser-Allen to tap in at the far post. Dixon was caught by the defender at this point and went down. The stretcher was quickly called for and after five minutes he was carried off.

At the restart Obika came on and played alongside Olsen. Livermore had a shot blocked for a corner, which led to a second on the other side. Hutchins took this one and his whipped in ball had to be kicked off the line. On forty-five minutes a long ball found Sears free on the left his centre was turned home by Stanislas running in at the near post. In stoppage time Livermore had an effort just wide.

Spurs started the second half strongly and when the Hammers failed to clear a corner, Livermore picked up the loose ball and curled it around the melee of players into the left side of the goal. This led to a period of Spurs pressure where their passing began to find holes in the up to then solid defence.

Spurs had changed to their usual formation of four across the middle with the second striker in the hole. Olsen played the lone striker, but got little from the close marking of the Hammers defenders as his close control did not stand up to the solid challenges he faced. He did get in front of his marker to guide the ball past Street when Hutchins crossed on the hour.

West Ham looked to strengthen their midfield while Inglethorpe made two changes. This was Archibald-Henville's first run out after injury and he was given just over an hour before Butcher came on to take his place. Davis (another long term absentee) came on and played in the hole with Obika moving up front in place of Olsen. Obika was able to better hold of the defenders and lay off to the midfield as well as having a couple of efforts himself.

West Ham brought on a big, and I mean big, defender to stem the runs of Kasim, Davis and Livermore which he did fairly well. He did receive a booking for one two footed tackle on Livermore as Spurs continued to attack on a wide front. With three points looking safe the home side attacked down the right and when the ball came across the area Sears was able to hook the ball in from about ten yards out. While the Irons were happy with a point Spurs continued to press forward and Blackmore conceded a free kick and got a yellow at the same time stopping Hutchins progress down the left.

After being under the cosh for long periods of the first half with only the work of Dixon up front, before the dominating performance in the second half, the draw felt like a loss of two points. West Ham usually give us a hard time, as in the first half, and tend to keep the points so this was a good result for us.

The injury to Dixon is the main concern as his return to fitness was progressing well. For his sake I hope it is not as bad as it looked.

We had started the game with a newish back four. Archibald-Henville was given a run out to get fit, and a first game for Casey who also missed a large part of last season. Cox had his best game so far against Stanislas since coming up from the U-16 side and Huchins is settling in well at left back having moved from midfield.

My main worry is up front as Olsen does not look like he can establish himself and we seem to have few options. We have plenty of wide players who are being used in the hole and get pushed into this position with Obika looking the most promising, but Townsend and Fraser-Allen have been tried. Their pace is the main advantage and the sight of three wingers (four when Davis came on) looks dangerous, but without a finisher.

Next week the U-18's entertain Norwich City at the Lodge with an 11 a.m. kick off.

Ray

Follow @spursodyssey