Premier Academy League South
        Spurs Lodge, Chigwell, Essex
     Saturday 20th September 2008, 11am

         SPURS    v     CRYSTAL PALACE
     (All White)        (Yellow/Blue)
         4-4-2              4-4-2

          1(0)               0(0)

     Jamie Butler 1 Kieron Thorpe
       Adam Smith 2 Nathan Clyne
     Nathan Byrne 3 Lee Hills(C)
  Daniel Hutchins 4 James Comley
Stephen Caulker(C)5 Aaron Dalhouse
    Calum Butcher 6 Jerry Nnamani 
     Dean Parrett 7 Michael Abnett
      Yaser Kasim 8 Jamie Smith
       Alex Olsen 9 Nathanial Pinney
      Ryan Mason 10 Haheenq Agelauun
  Jonathan Obika 11 Touren Roberts

    James Dalton 12 Jolsew De Santos
                    (11)79Mins.
  Jake Nicholson 13
     Sol Asajile 14 Marcus Watson
                   (10)57Mins. 
     Coskun Ekim 15 Graeme Edwards 
                   (6)46Mins.
         Sam Cox 16 Jack Holland
                 17 Matty Parson

Coaches:-
   A.Inglethorpe    G. Issot

Scorers:-
        Obika 60

Booked:-

Red card:-
                    Comley 65(Very late)

Referee:- C. O’Donnell

It was a warm sunny morning for this match which lead to a few hot tempers on the pitch for the encounter with Crystal Palace. A good sized crowd turned up to watch.

Spurs lined up with Caulker and Butcher at the back with Smith at right back and Nathan Byrne on the left. Hutchins and Kasim played in the centre of midfield with Parrett on the right side and Obika on the left. Mason supported Olsen up front. There was a brief delay to the start as Butler changed his yellow top because it clashed with the Palace shirts. With no spare available he had to play in a training top.

Spurs defended the North End in the first half facing the sun and found that the Eagles defended hard and closed quickly in the middle of the park. Spurs did not help themselves as they looked a little sluggish and we had to wait for the 23rd minutes before the first chance of the game when Olsen fired over from a Mason free kick. Pinney got the ball in the net but was ruled out for a foul. Parrett ran onto a through ball from Mason which was blocked before Roberts put an effort wide. Butler had to be quick to come out and block as Palace beat the offside trap. Olsen was deemed to have challenged the keeper unfairly before putting the ball in the net as the home side put the visitors under a little pressure. Palace then pushed Smith forward in support of the strikers and he had two chances which he put wide either side of a free kick by Mason that was over the bar.

Smith drew a save from Butler early in the second half before Spurs began to get their game to flow. Obika had a shot saved and Olsen had his cleared off the line. Mason then had his drive saved before he met Obika’s cross from the left only to see it blocked with Parrett hitting the loose ball over from a couple of yards out.

Caulker headed over from a corner before Spurs finally went in front. After a number of passes across the front of the defence the ball was threaded through to Smith on the right who cut inside and crossed for Obika coming in at the far post to finish.

Olsen saw his effort saved by Thorpe who then had to come out quickly to block as Mason got through the back line. Smith and Olsen combined to win the ball near the side line and after Smith had released the ball, Comley came flying in to take him out. The ref who had been having a good game produced the red card as some of the Spurs players had to be restrained.

Hutchins tried his luck from the edge of the area but Thorpe saved and Smith also drew a save from Butler before his next effort went over. Abnett fired over before Mason saw his effort saved and Hutchins fired wide.

This was a tough game, not as physical as the previous week against Charlton but combined with Spurs being a little off form, produced a close game. The full backs both made sorties down the flanks in support of the wide players with Byrne showing his inexperience by being slow to get back. Spurs' passing and movement was poor in the first half but improved in the second. Palace showed little threat up front until they pushed Smith more forward. Next week Spurs will be away at Aston Villa who are a point behind us.

It was the ref's first game in charge and he did a good job. He took up good positions and kept talking to the players. He allowed advantage where possible and did not chicken out when it mattered with the sending off. He was better than the officials in the last two matches. Good work Steve.

Ray

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