Premier League 2, First Division 2016-17
         Lamex Stadium, Broadhall Way, Stevenage
              Monday 30th January 2017, 7pm

                SPURS     v  SOUTHAMPTON
             (White/Blue)    (Black/Grey)
               4-2-2-2         4-2-3-1

                 3(3)            1(0)

           Thomas Glover  1  Kingsley Latham
      Kyle Walker-Peters  2  Yan Valery
          Joseph Muscatt  3  Will Wood
            Luke Amos(C)  4  Ben Rowthorn
       Christian Maghoma  5  Ollie Cook
           Filip Lesniak  6  Alfie Jones(C)
          William Miller  7  Harley Willard
               Ryan Loft  8  Thomas O'Connor
           Shilow Tracey  9  Ryan Seager
        Joseph Pritchard 10  Callum Slattery
            Nathan Oduwa 11  Tyrese Johnson

              Cy Goddard 12  Jake Vokins
               (7)73Mins
        Thomas McDermott 13  Adam Parkes
       Zenon Stylianides 14  William Smallbone
              (10)60Mins
             Jaden Brown 15  Olufela Olomola
                             (7)46Mins.
            Matthew Lock 16  Marcus Barnes
                             (9)69Mins

Scorers:-
            Oduwa 27         Seager 59
            Jones 30 (o.g.)
            Tracey 45+1

Booked:-
            Amos 78(Late)    Cook 55(Holding)

Coach:-
            U. Ehiogu        M. Hunter

Attendance:- 431

Referee:– C. Hatzidakis
Assistants:– B. Gill & S. Williams
Fourth Official:– R. Hart

Spurs entertained Southampton at Stevenage on a cool evening looking to build on the two draws earlier this month against Chelsea and Manchester City. While Spurs drew 2-2 with City in their last match the South coast side lost 3-1 to Arsenal. Spurs lost 1-0 at St. Marys earlier in the season, but there was the prospect of going above them with a win.

Spurs lined up with Glover in goal behind Maghoma and Lesniak with Walker-Peters at right back and Muscatt on the left. Amos anchored the midfield with Pritchard alongside him. Ahead of them Miller started on the right flank and Oduwa on the left. Both wide players swapped flanks regularly during the match but stayed ahead of the defensive duo until Miller was subbed and the formation changed to 4-2-3-1. Up front Loft was partnered by Tracey.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the South end and quickly pushed the visitors back as they pressed high up the pitch. Miller had the first effort which Latham saved at the expense of a corner. Tracey played Loft in for a chance that he put wide. Loft turned another effort wide from a Muscatt centre as Spurs pinned Southampton into their own half. Miller cut in off the right to play Tracey in to shoot over.

Oduwa got down the left before playing the ball into Miller on the edge of the area and went for the return, smashing it into the far corner of the net. Loft had a chance on the edge of the area that was blocked before Oduwa robbed Rowthorn and got down the left getting to the line, whipping the ball low across the six yard box where Jones turned it into his own net for 2-0.

Spurs continued to press, preventing any attempt on Glover's goal. Walker-Peters had treatment for a clash of heads with Wood as he attacked down the right and the visitors were pinned back. Amos played in Tracey down the middle for an effort that was saved. Tracey did get onto the scoresheet in added time at the end of the half thanks again to good work by Oduwa on the left.

Southampton made one change for the start of the second half and made more of a game of it winning two corners and a couple of free kicks. One saw Glover drop the ball under pressure and from the last Loft carried the ball out of the box in a counter-attack only to be pulled back by Jones who was booked for the foul. Southampton got to the edge of the area where the Spurs defence held them up and as they moved the ball between players looking for an opening, Pritchard fouled Seager injuring himself in the process to concede a penalty. Seager took the penalty which Glover saved but the"Saints"' striker followed up to score.

Stylianides replaced Pritchard for the restart. The "Saints" went looking for another goal with Seager heading wide before he was subbed. Glover saved from Johnson before Spurs made another change with Goddard replacing Miller, thus switching the formation to 4-2-3-1 with Tracey moving to the right flank. Amos was booked for a late challenge on Valery as Spurs sought to see out the game. O'Connor had a header saved and also hit a long range effort that Glover saved easily before the final whistle.

This was an easy win for Spurs who dominated the first half in which the visitors did not have a single effort on or off target. The second half saw Spurs content to allow Southampton to come out of their half which resulted in them scoring. Spurs had the use of Miller and Lesniak on loan to Burton and Slovan Liberec repectively for the season and also Amos and Loft who recently moved on loan for the rest of the season at Southend and Stevenage. The win moves Spurs up to eighth with a trip to Anfield next. Liverpool sit third in the table after drawing with Sunderland.

Ray

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