FA Youth Cup 5th Round
       Lamex Stadium, Broadhall Way, Stevenage
          Thursday 2nd February 2017, 7pm

              SPURS     v   NORWICH CITY
           (White/Blue)    (Yellow/Green)
             4-1-4-1           4-2-3-1

               2(2)              0(0)

        Alfie Whiteman  1  Fergal Hale-Brown
         Timothy Eyoma  2  Max Aarons
    Nicholas Tsaroulla  3  Toby Syme
       George Marsh(C)  4  Emersson Sambu
      Jonathan Dinzeyi  5  Owen Wallis
       Japhet Tanganga  6  Timi Odusina
       Samuel Shashoua  7  Anthony Spyrou
          Dylan Duncan  8  Louis McIntosh
      Kazaiah Sterling  9  Bernard Ashley-Seal
  Tashan Oakley-Boothe 10  Agust Hlynsson
       Keanan Bennetts 11  Glenn Middleton

           Tariq Hinds 12  Alfie Payne
        Brandon Austin 13  Ryan Dickinson
           Jaden Brown 14  Bilal Kamal
                           (4)74Mins
          Oliver Skipp 15  Callum Ellesley
             (8)77Mins
         Reo Griffiths 16  Alan Fleming
            (11)68Mins     (10)61Mins

Scorer:-
       Sterling 16, 30

Booked:-
       Tanganga 63(Late)   McIntosh 38(Late)
       Duncan 64(Holding)  Sambu 70 (Foul)
       Tsaroulla 72(Late)
       Oakley-Boothe 90+4(Holding)

Coach:-
       J. McDermott        D. Wright

Attendance:- 698

Referee:– J. Smith
Assistants:– L. Grimsey & R. Adams
Fourth Official:– D. Knox

On a cold evening with a breeze that brought rain during the second half Spurs entertained Norwich City in the FA Youth Cup at Stevenage. The tie was originally due to be played on the 24th January as my ticket reminded me. Both sides reached this round with good wins, Spurs 4-1 over QPR and Norwich 4-0 against Burnley. Norwich have taken four points from Spurs in their two league games - a 2-2 draw at Hotspur Way in September and a 3-2 win at Colney in December.

Spurs lined up with Whiteman behind Dinzeyi and Tanganga with Eyoma at right back and Tsaroulla on the left. Marsh anchored the midfield with a diamond in front of him of Duncan and Oakley-Boothe in the middle with Shashoua on the right and Bennetts on the left in support of Sterling up front.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the South end but the visitors had the better of the opening exchanges pushing Spurs back. Despite some good approach work they only had an effort by McIntosh over the bar from a corner. Oakley-Boothe played in Shashoua on the right to draw a save from Hale-Brown as Spurs began to settle, winning control of the midfield.

Spurs went ahead when Marsh played a through ball to Sterling to drive in past the keeper. Bennetts crossed from the right for Sterling but his effort was blocked. Oakley-Boothe played in Shashoua to draw another save from the keeper. Sterling got his (and Spurs') second goal when he was played through by Duncan. Sterling had a chance to complete his hat trick when Shashoua was fouled on the half-way line and he quickly took the free kick to send Sterling away but a last ditch tackle by Odusina prevented him getting off a shot.

McIntosh was booked for a foul on Eyoma. A cross from the right that was just behind Shashoua saw the wideman shoot on the turn. Hale-Brown saved the shot, with the rebound going to Bennetts coming in from the left but his effort was blocked and Spurs ended the half with just a two goal lead.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which was more of an end to end game. Tanganga headed over a cross from Shashoua early on and failed to reach a far post free kick from Bennetts. Shashoua crossed from the right for Bennetts' late run that was played on to Sterling, but the keeper saved. Shashoua hit a free kick over before Tanganga was booked for a late tackle on Hlynsson.

Whiteman saved the free kick from Middleton but had to face another one when Duncan was booked for grappling with Ashley-Seal on the left side. McIntosh hit that one wide of the far post. Griffiths replaced Bennetts on the left when Spurs made their first change. Sambu was booked for knocking Tsaroulla over as he was about to make another of his strong runs. The Spurs left back then went into the ref's book himself when he slid in late on Middletton.

Middleton fired over from a corner before Spurs made their second change when Skipp replaced Duncan in midfield. With Spurs now looking to see out the game the visitors pushed for a goal to get back into contention. A long ball down the middle found Fleming but Whiteman saved his effort. Spyrou got down the right but his cross was just missed by Ashley-Seal. Right at the end of added time Oakley-Boothe was booked for a pull on Middleton as he cut in from the right with the resultant free kick cleared by the defence before the final whistle.

This was another good performance by Spurs who took control once they had settled, restricting the visitors to few chances while creating their own. Norwich came to play football and had the better of the opening period but could not maintain much possession once Spurs began to flow. They could not cope with the movement of Duncan and Oakley-Boothe in the central areas as they kept swapping places to make runs that were not picked up quickly, thus giving Shashoua and Bennetts room outside them.

Spurs will now go to Newcastle United in the next round. They beat Swansea 3-1 to set up the home tie. Spurs have a rest on Saturday as their game against Leicester City has been moved to Tuesday midday.

Ray

Follow @spursodyssey