Premier Academy League
        Spurs Lodge, Chigwell, Essex
          Monday 10th May 2010, 2pm

        SPURS       v       CHELSEA
     (White/Blue)         (Blue/White)
        4-4-2                4-5-1

         3(1)                 0(0)

      Jordan Archer 1 Aldi Haxhia
     Callum Tapping 2 Ben Sampayo
Zaine Francis-Angol 3 Nathaniel Chalobah
     Jake Nicholson 4 Kenny Strickland
            Sam Cox 5 Aziz Conteh
  Olumude Durojaiye 6 George Saville
     Alex Pritchard 7 Bobby Devyne
        Tom Carroll 8 Anton Rodgers
    Shaq Coulthurst 9 Phillipp Prosenik
Paul-Jose M’Poku(C)10 Aliu Djalo(C)
     Laste Dombaxe 11 Milan Lalkovic

      Jamie Butler 12 James Ashton
                      (6)46Mins.
      James Yeboah 13 Sam Walker
                      (9)66Mins.
    Darren McQueen 14   
        (11)62Mins.  
     Jack Barthram 15 
        (10)76Mins.
   Anton Blackwood 16 
         (6)72Mins.   

Coaches:-
     A.Inglethorpe    D. Drummy

Scorers:-
     Coulthurst 22 
     McQueen 70, 85

Booked:-
       Nicholson 24   Conteh 47(Late)
(Ungentlemanly conduct) 
       Blackwood 89(Late)

Red Card:-
                      Djalo 24
                      (Violent conduct) 

Referee:- R. Mackay

It was an overcast afternoon with a gusty wind for the last Academy league game of the season against the FA Youth Cup winners Chelsea. Both sides rested players with the visitors only having two subs. A number of our academy players not involved came over to watch part of the match.

Spurs lined up with Cox partnering Durojaiye at the back with Tapping at right back and Francis-Angol on the left. Carroll joined Nicholson in the centre of midfield with Pritchard on the right side and Dombaxe on the left. M’Poku supported Coulthurst up front.

Spurs defended the North goal in the first half and quickly put the visitors under pressure. From an early corner on the right Carroll saw his kick hit the far post before being cleared. M’Poku held the ball up looking for openings to release Coulthurst and often chipped the ball over the top in tight situations instead of playing easy balls wide. Young Coulthurst is quick and he soon latched onto one of M’Poku’s chips to fire over.M’Poku drove wide himself before playing a short ball to Coulthurst on his right who whipped in a 25yd volley that went wide of the far post with Haxhia struggling to get across. A minute later and Coulthurst ran onto a through ball to fire past the keeper with a rising volley.

The Blues' captain dived in to challenge Nicholson from the side which caught the Spurs player. Jake reacted and after a melee involving most of the players the referee sent off Djalo and booked Nicholson. Chelsea became more defensive and Spurs did not pressure them but looked to pass their way through with clever touches. It took a while before Coulthurst forced a save from Haxhia and Dombaxe drove wide from M’Poku’s pass. The visitors even attacked with Prosenik drawing a save from Archer.

The visitors made one change for the second half bringing on a midfielder, who was listed as Rodgers on the teamsheet, in place of a defender. Conteh was booked for a late tackle on M’Poku as they looked to attack more. Rodgers(the real one) hit a free kick around the wall which Archer saved flying to his left. Coulthurst put his effort wide while Dombaxe saw his diverted for a corner. Cox tried his luck from distance but saw it fly wide.

Inglethorpe replaced Dombaxe with McQueen while the visitors sent on their 6ft6in goalkeeper in place of their striker. McQueen had scored with his first touch in his last game and was quickly off the mark in this one as well when he latched onto the pull back from Francis-Angol following his run down the left. Lalkovic played Walker in on the right but Archer was quickly out to block for a corner.

Durojaiye was replaced by Blackwood back from injury and after M’Poku had an effort saved he went off to be replaced by Barthram who went to right midfield with Pritchard moving inside. Nicholson took the captain's armband as Spurs stepped up the pace.Coulthurst drew another save after winning the ball in the visitors' area. The visitors tried to catch Archer off his line with a 60 yard effort that went wide. Barthram hooked the ball over his head and saw it drop onto the bar with Haxhia back-pedalling. Coulthurst got round the back on the left before coming inside and hitting a shot that the keeper saved, McQueen reacted quickest to the rebound to score his second and spurs third.

Nicholson injured himself when his studs caught in the turf and Chelsea broke away down the left before Blackwood stopped them with a late tackle to go into the ref’s book. With a minute left Nicholson came off to leave both sides with ten men. In added time Archer saved another Rodgers free kick.

Spurs finished the season on a winning note and can look forward to the tournament at Montley and Eurofoot in Belgium over the summer. They should have scored more goals but like the first team the day before, they went off the boil after a good start. The goals today take them to 94 for the season which is well clear of Leicester’s total. With McQueen and Coulthurst to come in as well as Dombaxe, the squad looks to be stronger for next season and the form of Durojaiye at the back should allow us to be challenging again for top spot.

Ray

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