Premier Academy U-18 League 2013-4
             Little Benton, Newcastle
          Saturday 26th October 2013, 11am.
             NEWCASTLE   v      SPURS
           (Black/White)      (All Blue)
               4-3-3            4-3-3

                1(1)             2(1)

      Jonathan Mitchell  1  Luke McGee
            Ben Drennan  2  Channing Campbell-Young
            Liam Gibson  3  Kyle Walker-Peters
             Greg Olley  4  Anton Walkes
          Ryan McKinnon  5  Kane Vincent-Young
    Macauley Gillesphey  6  Connor Ogilvie
         Callum Roberts  7  Nathan Oduwa
          Olivier Kemen  8  William Miller(C)
         Jonathyn Quinn  9  Daniel Akindayini
        Alex Giliead(C) 10  Shayon Harrison
         Rolando Aarons 11  Anthony Georgiou

           Tom Heardman 12  Joseph Pritchard
                            (9)59Mins
        Brendon Pearson 13  Liam Priestley
           James Morgan 14  Emmanuel Sonupe
                            (11)67Mins
        Daniel Barlaser 15  Lloyd Ross
             (10)85Mins     (4)79Mins
           Kyle Cameron 16 
              (3)46Mins

Scorers:-  
           Quinn 44         Harrison 29, 83

Booked:-   
      Roberts 61(10 Yds)    Campbell-Young 56(Foul)
                            Vincent-Young 86(Foul)

Coaches:- 
           D. Watson        J. McDermott 

Referee:– G. Todd

It was a very overcast sky but the rain held off for the game. The pitch looked water-logged in one corner as players slipped and splashed about. Spurs traveled to the north east with a weakened squad as the need to rotate players this week because the Academy have three matches to play.

Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind Ogilvie and makeshift centre half Vincent-Young with Campbell-Young at right back and Walker-Peters on the left. Walkes anchored the midfield with Miller and Harrison while Akindayini led the line with Oduwa on the right and Georgiou on the left.

Spurs defended the east end in the first half. It took a while for either side to settle. Drennon fired over early on and McGee saved a Roberts free kick. Mitchell saved Ogilvie's header from a corner and Vincent-Young fired over.

Both sides used the wings, as they had players who could run and beat defenders. Aarons got down the left and won a corner when McGee pushed his effort around the post. Spurs took the lead after a break by Georgiou from the halfway line. Georgiou held off tackles to cross for Harrison to score from the edge of the area.

Spurs began to get on top with Mitchell saving a free kick my Miller at the expense of a corner, diving to his left. Miller played in Akindayini for a chance which Mitchell saved. Newcastle tried to catch the visitors on the break which won them a few corners. Quinn got his head to one corner but Ogilvie blocked it. Quinn was in the right place to convert a left wing cross to equalise before half-time.

Newcastle replaced Gibson (who had been tormented by Oduwa during the first half) with Cameron as they sought to step up and get back into the game. Kemen, who continually tackled the man and not the ball, fired in a weak effort that McGee collected. Roberts fired over from Quinn's pass. A break by Aarons caught out Campbell-Young, who pulled him back to earn a booking which could so easily have been a red. Olley took the kick squaring for Kemen to drive over.

Akindayini, who seemed to be carrying an injury, was replaced by Pritchard who dropped into midfield allowing Harrison to move up front. Roberts went into the ref's book for not retreating ten yards at a free kick as Spurs began to increase pressure on the home side's goal. Harrison played in Georgiou to draw a save from the keeper.

Sonupe replaced Georgiou to work the right side with Oduwa switching to the left. When Giliead fouled Oduwa, the Spurs wideman took the kick himself forcing a save from Mitchell. Roberts fired over on the break before Miller played a ball through to Harrison who beat his marker but could not beat the keeper.

Sonupe got down the right and whipped in a cross that beat everyone. Another cross from Sonupe was mis-kicked by the centre-back over his own bar.

Spurs made their last change replacing Walkes with Ross, dispensing with a holding midfield player. This almost cost them as Aarons broke down the left and crossed for Quinn to turn wide of the far post. Spurs took the lead again when Harrison ran onto a through ball to score at the second attempt after Mitchell saved his first.

Vincent-Young was booked, when stopping Kemen driving through the middle. Sonupe curled an effort wide and Quinn got behind the defence and claimed a penalty when caught by McGee but the linesman's flag had been raised. With Spurs seeking to slow the game, Newcastle pushed forward putting them under pressure. Quinn drew a save to win one of a stream of corners and headed wide from another. It was Spurs that were pinned back, and a break saw Pritchard draw a save. The final corner saw Mitchell come up and challenge McGee for the ball. There was a brief scuffle after the whistle from a disgruntled Newcastle player but it was stifled quickly.

While Newcastle had four players who had played in a recent U-21 game, Spurs had Vincent-Young (who had been out for a while) playing out of position at centre-back. The win keeps Spurs on top of the group despite Fulham and Chelsea both winning. With Newcastle's poor record, regular centre-back pairing of Carter-Vickers and Maghoma were rested and should play on Wednesday at Villa. McDermott will be rotating the squad as there are another two games in the next week. After Villa on Wednesday they have a home game against Sunderland on Saturday.

Ray

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