Premier U-18 League South, 2017-18
       Hotspur Way, Whitewebb Rd, Enfield
      Saturday 24th February 2018, 11.30am

            SPURS     v     READING
        (White/Blue)     (Orange/Black)
           4-1-4-1           4-3-3
             4(1)             0(0) 

   Jonathan De Bie(C) 1  Jokull Andresson
        Rayan Clarke  2  Marcel Elva-Fountaine
         Tariq Hinds  3  Josh Brooking
        Jamie Bowden  4  Harry Pilby
    Jonathan Dinzeyi  5  Joe Wilson
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster 6  Ethan Coleman(C)
     Dilan Markanday  7  Khalid Simmo
    Armando Shashoua  8  Dejan Tetek
       Reo Griffiths  9  Shamar Moore
   Phoenix Patterson 10  Jack Nolan
J'neil Lloyd-Bennett 11  Samuel-Ayomede Faniyan

      Jamie Reynolds 12  Michenaidgelo Hanson
           (2)46Mins     (9)46Mins
                     13  Morgan Keeley
     Maxwell Statham 14  Tommy Stevens
      Rodel Richards 15  Conor Lawless
          (10)82Mins     (2)46Mins
       Paris Maghoma 16  Claudio Osario
           (7)55Mins     (8)61Mins

Scorers:-
Griffiths 44, 64, 90+2
Lloyd-Bennett 83

Booked:-
Dinzeyi 32(Late), 39(Late) 
Lloyd-Bennett 68(Trip)

Sent Off:-
           Dinzeyi 39

Coach:-
        Scott Parker     David Dodds

Referee:– Graeme Ions
Assistants:– Joe Kasper & Paul Stratton

Spurs returned to League action on a very cold morning with a biting wind, but with the sun shining brightly. Spurs drew their last game 1-1 to Southampton at Hotspur Way while Reading were thrashed 6-2 by Arsenal; something Spurs also experienced. Last season Spurs lost 1-2 to the visitors and have already lost 1-0 at Hogwood Park this season. Reading reached the 6th round of the FA Youth Cup but had to withdraw as they fielded an under-age player which seems unfair on them.

Spurs lined up with De Bie in goal behind Dinzeyi and Lyons-Foster with Clarke at right back and Hinds on the left. Bowden anchored the midfield with Shashoua and Patterson ahead of him flanked by Markandy on the right and Lloyd-Bennett on the left. Scott Parker was rotating his squad after Wednesday's defeat of AS Monaco.

Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North end and found it difficult to break down a ten man defence who were sitting deep and looking to break which saw them have the first chance when Moore played in Nolan to draw a save from De Bie. Markanday fired wide before Patterson played in Lloyd-Bennett to test Andresson. The dangerous Nolan fired over before Bowden saw his long range effort saved.

Griffiths was the next to bring a save from Andresson with Lloyd-Bennett having another chance saved. Dinzeyi picked up his first booking for a late tackle when trying to get to a weak pass. Faniyan won a corner from De Bie's save before Dinzeyi was late into a tackle on Simmo which, like the previous tackle minutes before, saw him booked and shown a red to leave Spurs with ten men.

Coleman saw his header at a corner cleared off the line. Reading began to open up pushing players forward to take advantage of the extra man which was their downfall as it gave room at the back to exploit. Griffiths got the ball on the halfway line and laid it off to Clarke and went for the return finding himself in space to beat the advancing keeper. Before the break Moore fired wide.

Both sides made changes for the start of the second half. Spurs replaced Clarke with Reynolds who went to left back with Hinds switching to the right. Reading made two attacking changes including Lawless at left back but they did not expect Spurs to continue to play attacking football.

Griffiths drew an early save before Tetek fired wide. Spurs' second change saw Maghoma replace Markandy in central midfield with Patterson moving to the right flank. Straight away Maghoma fired wide when Griffiths pulled the ball back to the edge of the area. A break by Nolan saw him fire over before he played in new sub Osario who also put the ball over the bar.

Spurs increased their lead when Lyons-Foster released Griffiths through the left channel to beat the keeper. Spurs were now on top as Reading began to lose heart. Nolan was still a danger and when he went on a run into the Spurs half Lloyd-Bennett tripped him from behind to go into the ref's book.

Maghoma fired wide after he was played in by Patterson. Coleman got forward to win a corner from De Bie's save and then saw his header from the corner cleared off the line for a second time in the match. Reading went down to ten players as well as Simmo was not able to continue and they had used all their subs. Reynolds was getting forward and had an effort that was over the bar before Spurs made their last change as they looked to see out the game. It took a minute for Richards to replace Patterson.

It was now all Spurs and when Reynolds was tackled on the edge of the area Lloyd-Bennett smashed the loose ball into the net for number three. Reynolds fired another effort over the goal before in the last minute Lloyd-Bennett got down the right and hit a low cross that Griffiths turned in for his hat-trick. The ref did not even restart the game before blowing his whistle to end the game.

This was a good win for Spurs who started slowly against a packed defence. They looked like they would struggle to score until the sending off. Reading opened up and this allowed Spurs' passing game to take them apart. If Reading had stayed compact they could have got something from the game as Nolan was always a danger on the break. Spurs stuck to their passing game with a few long balls and worked their way down the wings and through the middle as Reading opened up. The telling stat was that with ten men they still had almost 60% possession. Next week Spurs go to West Ham who won today 3-0 at Norwich. Spurs beat them 3-1 earlier in the season so it could be a good game.

Ray

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