Premier U-18 League, Southern League 2017-18
         Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
        Saturday 3rd February 2018, 11.30 am

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

              1(0)              1(1) 

    Jonathan De Bie(C) 1  Adam Parkes
          Tariq Hinds  2  Kayne Ramsey
       Jamie Reynolds  3  Jake Vokins
         Jamie Bowden  4  Harry Hamblin
      Maxwell Statham  5  Kameron Ledwidge
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster  6  Christoph Klarer(C)
       Rodel Richards  7  Kornelius Hansen
        Paris Maghoma  8  Sean Brennan
        Reo Griffiths  9  Benni Braithwaite
    Phoenix Patterson 10  William Smallbone
 J'neil Lloyd-Bennett 11  Jonathan Afolabi

      Dilan Markanday 12  Enzo Robise
           (11)70Mins
    Kacper Kurylowicz 13  Alex Cull
     Armando Shashoua 14  Tayuar Fleary
                          (11)68Mins
         Rayan Clarke 15  Javen Siu
            (7)79Mins     (8)85Mins
       Jibril Okendia 16  Christian Norton
                          (9)75Mins

Scorers:-
  Griffiths 47(pen) Ramsey 19 

Booked:-
                          Hamblin 43(KBA)

Coach:-
        Scott Parker      Craig Fleming

Referee:– Paul Forrester
Assistants:– James Sedley & David Moreno-Rojas

It was a cold rainy morning for the visit of third placed Southampton to Hotspur Way. Last week the "Saints" beat Leicester City 3-1 while Spurs beat Brighton 6-3 the previous week. Last season Spurs won this fixture 4-1 and have already beaten Southampton at Staplewood 2-1 earlier in the season.

Spurs lined up with De Bie in goal behind Statham and Lyons-Foster with Hinds at right back and Reynolds on the left. Bowden anchored the midfield with Maghoma and Patterson ahead of him flanked by Richards on the right and Lloyd-Bennett on the left in support of Griffiths up front.

Spurs defended the South end in the first half which saw the visitors pull bodies back to mark tightly in their own half. They were well organised and smothered the Spurs midfield preventing them getting forward while getting forward themselves when winning the ball. De Bie had to save early from Braithwaite and also Afolabi before Richards got through to draw a save.

De Bie saved a long range effort from Brennan tipping the ball over for a corner from which Hamblin headed wide of the near post. Southampton took the lead from a corner when the ball dropped at the far post for Ramsey to score with an overhead kick.

A Smallbone free kick saw Klarer's header saved. A short corner by Patterson to Reynolds was given to Maghoma who fired wide. Griffiths had a shot that was wide and Hansen drew a save from De Bie. Having gone in front Southampton were happy to slow the game down which saw Hamblin booked for kicking the ball away when a free kick had been awarded just before the break. We could hear the ref calling him a silly boy.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Lloyd-Bennett switch to the right and he was involved in getting the ball down the right when Griffiths sent him away. When the ball was played back to Griffiths with his back to goal Klarer fouled him to concede a penalty. Griffiths took the kick himself driving down the middle to score.

A driving run by Hinds saw him get into the area but he drove wide of the far post. Spurs pushed the visitors back in the opening spell and Maghoma fired over with a free kick. After Afolabi had to be subbed both sides began to make their changes. Markanday came on for Lloyd-Bennett on the right and Clarke replaced Richards on the left.

When Vokins broke down the left Statham got his head to the ball as he crossed and watched as it hit his own crossbar before coming out to a "Saints" player with De Bie saving his effort. Spurs pushed for a late winner with Maghoma having an effort blocked and Parkes saving from Patterson before the final whistle.

With the visitors so strong defensively and keeping Spurs away from their goal, it was a good point for the home side. Tight marking prevented Spurs getting their passing game going so they had to work hard to get anywhere. Spurs were due to travel to Aston Villa next week who beat Norwich today 2-1 away. However, this game has been postponed, so the next U-18s' game will be the Youth Cup Fifth Round game at home to Chelsea - being played at Stevenage (7pm Tuesday 13th February)

Ray

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