Premier U-21 League, Division 1, 2015-16
              White Hart Lane, Tottenham, N17
               Tuesday 19th April 2016, 7pm

                 SPURS     v     MAN UTD
             (White/Blue)      (Red/White)
                4-2-3-1          4-2-3-1

                  2(1)             3(2)

               Luke McGee  1 Joel Pereira(C)
       Kyle Walker-Peters  2 Guillermo Varela
           Joseph Muscatt  3 Axel Tuanzebe
        Zenon Stylianides  4 Ro-Shaun Williams
            Filip Lesniak  5 Cameron Borthwick-Jackson
             Anton Walkes  6 Paddy McNair
          Emmanuel Sonupe  7 Sadiq El-Fitouri
              Harry Winks  8 Donald Love
         Kazaiah Sterling  9 Devente Redmond
            Joshua Onomah 10 Andreas Pereira
         William Miller(C)11 Joe Riley

         Joseph Pritchard 12 Regan Poole
               (11)67Mins
            Thomas Glover 13 Dean Henderson
               Cy Goddard 14 Scott McTominay
                (4)84Mins    (9)61Mins
           Marcus Edwards 15 Demetri Mitchell
                (7)72Mins
             George Marsh 16 Tyler Reid

Scorers:-
             Miller 25       Love 5
             Pritchard 76    Pereira 15
                             Varela 90+4

Booked:-
          Onomah 55(Foul)

Coach:-
          U. Ehiogu          W. Joyce

Referee:– C. Lymer
Assistants:– D. Apleby & W. Cartmel
Fourth Official:– J. Nazari

It was a cool evening for the last U-21 game of the season for Spurs which was played at White Hart Lane. The visitors were second placed Manchester United. Spurs came into this game having won their last game against Sunderland 3-1 at the Lane whilst United had beaten Middlesbrough 1-0. United hold the upper hand in winning the away match 3-1 in January and last season they won 2-1 at Stevenage. There was a good sized crowd as they had to open up the corner of the Park Lane Stand.

Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind Lesniak and Walkes with Walker-Peters at right back and Muscatt on the left. Stylianides anchored the midfield with Winks alongside him while Onomah was ahead of them flanked by Sonupe on the right and Miller on the left in support of Sterling up front. On the bench Spurs had four midfield players including Edwards and Marsh from the Academy. United included four over-age players in their starting line up. (Ed: a regular United trait)

Spurs defended the Paxton Road end in the first half which saw the visitors sit deep looking to counter, giving Spurs possession and territory. After winning the ball in the centre, United got down the right and crossed for Love to drill home for the opening goal. They continued to defend deep and when Sterling got through he was pulled back by Borthwick-Jackson. Varela dived in two-footed to stop Lesniak. The referee gave a free kick and nothing else.

United crossed the half-way line for a second time when Riley crossed to the other wing for Varela to put over a deep cross. Pereira got to the ball ahead of Muscatt to score their second goal. The United defence did a good job at keeping Spurs at arms' length, and Winks fired over from distance. Spurs managed to get crosses in from Sonupe and Onomah but the United defenders cleared them until Stylianides crossed to Miller to score from twenty yards. There were few chances with Winks drawing a save from Pereira and Sterling firing over before the break.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which continued as the first finished with Spurs having most possession while United defended deep in their own half kicking long balls for Pereira to chase.

Onomah came in from the left to give Miller a chance at the near post, but the keeper saved. McGee kicked the ball out to Love who was not able to take advantage of the gift, hitting his effort wide. Pereira got behind the Spurs defence but fired over as Spurs pushed forward.

Onomah lost the ball and in his efforts to regain it, he was booked for a foul on Borthwick-Jackson. With the Spurs defence exposed Varela fired wide. When a corner was only half cleared Winks had a chance which he hit over. Winks played in Miller but his effort was blocked. Walkes had a dipping volley drop just over the bar from another corner.

Having just come on, McTominay got to a corner in the six yard box but McGee saved. Spurs replaced Miller with Pritchard and five minutes later sent on Edwards in place of Sonupe.

Pereira got to a long ball before Walkes to get clear but saw his effort hit the far post. Edwards fired wide and Onomah drew a save before Spurs were level. Walker-Peters sent Edwards away down the right and he got to the line and whipped the ball in low for Pritchard to convert.

Spurs took off Stylianides for Goddard as they pushed for another goal but this left the defence more exposed to United counter attacks. Borthwick-Jackson got forward to draw a save from McGee. Walker-Peters floated a cross to the far post where Muscatt turned it wide. Deep into added time United won a corner from which Spurs blocked the first effort but the ball fell kindly for Varela to score the winner.

It was hard for Spurs to lose this game as they put so much effort into it only to be undone when they lost the ball and United countered. United made sure that Spurs had few chances and their more experienced players showed how it was done. It was not pretty but it has taken them to the top of the table while Spurs sit uncomfortably in fifth with Southampton and Chelsea just below with games in hand. Assuming the first team get into the Champions League, Spurs will participate in the Uefa Youth League for U-19 teams which Chelsea have won for the last two seasons. This means more games for the development squad which will affect the U-18 as well as the U-21 fixtures.

Ray

Follow @spursodyssey