Spurs XI Pre-season Friendly
          Lee Harrison Testimonial,
             Underhill, Barnet

        Saturday 23rd July 2011, 3pm

          BARNET      v     SPURS XI
       (Gold/Black)       (White/Blue)
          4-4-2               4-4-2

           3(3)               2(0)

        Lee Harrison  1 David Button
       Jordan Parkes  2 Nathan Byrne
       Anwar Uddin(C) 3 Andros Townsend
          Mark Byrne  4 Tom Carroll
      Darren Dennehy  5 Jake Livermore(C)
       Clovis Kamdjo  6 Milos Veljkovic
         Mark Hughes  7 Jesse Waller-Lassen
        Izale McLeod  8 Massimo Luongo
        Ricky Holmes  9 Jonathan Obika
         Sam Deering 10 Harry Kane
       Mark Marshall 11 Alex Pritchard


       Mauro Vilhete 12 Kudos Oyenuga
          (11)87Mins.   (9)78Mins.
          Dean Brill 13 Jordan Archer
           (1)12Mins. 
          Ryan Watts 14 "Teddi"
           (5)78Mins.   (6)65Mins.
      Charlie Taylor 15 Jake Nicholson
           (9)65Mins.   (11)65Mins.
            Sam Cox  16 Daniel Day 
           (4)72Mins.
         Bas Savage  17 Ronnie Hawkins
           (8)65Mins.
        Liam O'Brien 18 Ramil Sheriff
                     19 Jack Barthram
                     20 Jack Munns
                     21 Laste Dombaxe
                        (7)78Mins.

Scorers:-
       Marshall 2       Kane 49 pen.
       McLeod 23 pen    Obika 63
       Byrne 24 

Coach:-
          L. Sanchez    T. Sherwood

Referee:- M. Halsey
Asst. Refs:- M. Buonassisi, R. Kendall
4th Official:- R. Witton

Attendance:- 1,582

It was a warm sunny afternoon for this first official pre-season friendly by our development squad. The occasion was a testimonial for former Barnet keeper Lee Harrison, who made a guest appearance for the first 12 minutes. The match was preceded by a short game between Barnet & Spurs “legends”. The pre-match entertainment was ended early due to injury to the Spurs keeper Howard Green with the score at 3-2 to Barnet. This was somewhat ironic as it was in benefit for another keeper retiring due to injuries.

Spurs lined up with Button in goal behind Livermore and Veljkovic with Byrne at right back and Townsend on the left. Carroll and Luongo started in the centre of midfield with Waller-Lassen on the right and Pritchard on the left. Kane and Obika started up front with no sign of Coulibaly. (Apparently waiting for his visa/work permit)

Barnet won the toss and decided to play down the slope which is a big advantage at Underhill. Spurs kicked off but were soon under pressure as the home side exploited their advantage by attacking at pace down the slope. The inexperienced Spurs defence were continually drawn into giving away free kicks and conceded the opening goal inside two minutes when they gave away a free kick on the right side just outside the area. Marshall took the ball and hit it over the wall beating Button to his right.

Spurs responded immediately working the ball to Kane, whose effort was turned away by Harrison for a corner. McLeod fired over and then saw his next effort cleared off the line from a tight angle. Waller-Lassen fired well over from just outside the area with the ball landing in the gardens behind the goal. After Button saved from McLeod, Harrison left the field having made an appearance and preventing a goal as well. His replacement, Brill, was soon called into action saving from Obika at his near post. The ball came out to Waller-Lassen, but his effort was cleared off the line.

Brill did better with his next save by turning Pritchard's drive over for a corner. Spurs conceded two goals in the space of a minute when firstly Parkes got into the area and was caught from behind by Livermore to win a penalty, which was fired home by McLeod low to Button's left. This was followed by a goal headed home by Byrne running onto a cross from Marshall on the left.

Waller-Lassen fired over for a corner and Button turned over a free kick from Byrne before Townsend got down the left only to see his drive just fly past the post. Kane played in Carroll whose volley was cleared off the line. Brill by now had settled in and saved from Townsend and also from Pritchard. As the half ended Marshall fired wide from a free kick.

There were no changes at half time. Spurs had the advantage of playing down the slope in the second half. Brill saved from Kane at the expense of a corner inside two minutes. Kane was then tripped as he took the ball around a defender in the box for a penalty. Kane took the kick himself putting it to the left of the keeper. Carroll set up Kane for a chance that he pulled wide and Townsend fired over. Brill turned away a Kane free kick for a corner as Spurs piled on the pressure.

Waller-Lassen shot over and Obika saw his effort saved for a corner and another low drive from Townsend flew wide. Sherwood made his first change replacing Veljkovic with "Teddi" (I don't know anything about him but he is massive.) The pressure told when Obika chased a ball into the area and beat two defenders before firing past Brill.

Spurs made another change bringing on Nicholson in place of Pritchard to sit in the centre of midfield while Townsend was pushed further upfield. Sanchez replaced both his strikers at the same time as he sought to get some momentum back into his side. Kane saw his drive deflected for a corner, taken by Townsend for "Teddi" to put wide. Button saved Deering's header from a free kick before Brill was saving from Carroll at the other end. Obika fired over and Luongo saw his drive saved. Between those two chances, we saw the introduction of former Spurs junior Sam Cox by Barnet. (Another former Spur - Mark Hughes - had started for the "Bees")

Button saved from Savage at the expense of a corner which Kamdjo headed over. Oyenuga replaced Obika and Dombaxe came on for Waller-Lassen as Sherwood pushed for an equaliser. Deering saw his free kick turned over for a corner. Nicholson got forward to draw a save from Brill, who also saved from Carroll as the Spurs youngsters continued to look for a goal. It was not to be as the final whistle was blown.

After a shaky start Spurs finished the game strongly. It is amazing how the slope affects the game. I have only seen one game where the team won the game playing up the slope (We beat the gooners in a reserve game). As an example of the advantage of the slope, Townsend had problems getting past Parkes in the first half but got the better of him in the second. I managed to have a word with Tim Sherwood after the game and he says that this will be the basis of the U-19 side for the NextGen Series. We seem to be short of a centre back or two as the use of Veljkovic, and "Teddi" shows. It is certainly not Livermore's best position. We will see how they line up for their next game against the MK Dons on Tuesday.

Ray

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