Premier U-18 Southern League 2014-15
                   Hotspur Way, Enfield
            Saturday 21st February 2014, 11am

                SPURS      v      FULHAM
             (White/Blue)     (Black/Orange)
                4-3-3             4-3-3

                 4(1)              1(0) 

            Thomas Glover  1  Magnus Norman
         Christopher Paul  2  Ryheem Sheckleford
           Joseph Muscatt  3  Adetago Edun
            Charlie Owens  4  Shane Elworthy
        Christian Maghoma  5  Aron Davies
           Anton Walkes(C) 6  Josh Smile(C)
              Armani Daly  7  Stephen Humphrys
        Zenon Stylianides  8  Harrison Paton
                Ryan Loft  9  Aaron Redford
               Lloyd Ross 10  Luca De La Torre
           Ismail Azzaoui 11  Josh Walker

          Charlie Hayford 12  Ravin Shams
               (11)54Mins    (11)88Mins
           Alfie Whiteman 13  Taye Ashby-Hammond
          Kaziah Sterling 14  Dennis Adeniran
                (8)61Mins     (9)57Mins
          Samuel Shashoua 15  Darren Jr. Boufforge
                (7)77Mins
          Shayon Harrison 16  Marlon Fossey
                              (3)48Mins

Scorers:-
          Loft 36, 90+1       De La Torre 78
          Daly 52
          Shashoua 89

Coach:-
          K. McKenna          V. Bettenilli 

Ref:– M. Simmons

On a bright cold morning Spurs entertained Fulham at Hotspur Way as they returned to league action. Spurs were looking to do the double over their West London rivals, having won 3-2 at Motspur Park. Having played on Wednesday evening at Nottingham Forest, Mckenna had to rotate his squad which saw a new U-16 schoolboy included on the bench. He was joined by Sterling back from England duty in Portugal.

Spurs lined up with Glover in goal behind Maghoma and Walkes with Paul at right back and Muscatt on the left. Owens anchored the midfield with Stylianides and Ross. Loft started up front with Daly on the right and Azzaoui on the left. Spurs had Sterling back and Fulham had Edun back from England U-17 duty in Portugal where the Spurs striker got his first goal for England.

Spurs kicked off attacking the North end, putting the visitors under pressure. Fulham handled the pressure well, counter-attacking when they won possession. Azzaoui drew an early save and Redford fired wide. Loft got into a good position but his effort was blocked for a corner. Glover saved from Humphrys before Azzaoui drove wide.

Ross fired over while Loft shot wide and Stylianides also fired wide, before Spurs got their goal. It started with Maghoma winning the ball in the left back position and playing it up the left side before it arrived at the feet of Azzaoui. Azzaoui drew the Fulham defenders to leave Loft in space to receive his pass and volley into the net.

A minute later, there was more good work by Azzaoui, who worked his way into the middle before passing to Daly on the right to get round the back and hit a powerful shot which hit the far post, rebounding to safety.

There were no changes for the start of the second half although it wasn't long before Fulham replaced their right back, as he had a knock in the first half.

Glover had to make a save from Redford before Spurs got a second. The scorer was Daly with a low drive from the edge of the area which went inside the left post.

Spurs felt confident enough to take off Azzaoui, to save him for next week. Hayford came on and went into the midfield, while Ross moved to the right flank, as Daly switched to the left.

Ross crossed for Loft to fire wide before Sterling came on for Stylianides. Good work by Daly on the left gave Loft a chance that was saved. Sterling attacked down the left channel before laying the ball off for Ross for a shot that was deflected for a corner.

Glover saved from Adeniran as Spurs began to drop off, but they still made a break via Daly who fed Ross for an effort well over the bar. Adeniran got through the right channel before playing in De La Torre for a chance that was saved by Glover. Fulham almost scored when Glover dropped Adeniran's effort but he recovered to block first De La Torre, and then Walker conceding a corner.

Humphrys headed wide from the corner before Spurs made their last change sending on Shashoua for Daly as they moved to 4-4-2. Fulham scored, when Sheckleford got down the left and crossed for De La Torre to sidefoot home. Fulham stepped up, looking for the equaliser with Humphrys drawing a save while Sterling tried to exploit the extra space at the back but firing just wide.

With time running out, Adeniran played in Humphrys for a chance that Glover saved. Paul started a break, which found Shashoua on the edge of the Fulham area. The little midfielder created space for the shot and scored low under Norman to register his first goal in his first appearance to kill off Fulham's chances. To rub it in Shashoua, then won the ball in the centre circle, and fed Loft who danced through two tackles before beating Norman for his second and Spurs' fourth in added time.

This was a good performance by Spurs as they seek to stay in the top four. Azzaoui has recovered well from his injury, providing good attacking options. He took a couple of hits today which left him limping, but he was able to come off early.

Spurs had the better of the game only looking shaky when they sat back at 2-0, allowing Fulham possession. However, we were able to pinch a couple of goals at the end. Spurs have two more games in the next week. The first against the gooners at home on wednesday morning and Southern League champions Chelsea away on Saturday.

           P  W  D  L   F-A  Pts
Chelsea   21 14  3  4  76-34  45
A. Villa  20 10  5  5  44-44  35
Spurs     19  9  5  5  42-35  32
West Brom 21  9  4  8  35-39  31
Reading   20  9  3  8  37-33  30
Leicester 19  9  2  8  30-21  29

Ray

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