Premier League 2, First Division 2019-20
        AMEX Stadium, Brighton, Sussex
       Friday 27th September 2019, 7pm

            BRIGHTON    v    SPURS
          (White/Blue)     (All Blue)
             4-2-3-1        4-1-4-1

              4(1)            1(1)

             Hugo Keto  1  Jonathan De Bie
          Romaric Yapi  2  Jubril Okendina
         James Furlong  3  Tariq Hinds
            Jack Spong  4  Jamie Bowden(C)
        Antef Tsoungui  5  Timothy Eyoma
       Warren O'Hora(C) 6  Luis Binks
          Ryan Longman  7  Phoenix Patterson
         Jordan Davies  8  Paris Maghoma
       Bojan Radulovic  9  Rodel Richards
         Danny Cashman 10  Tashan Oakley-Boothe
            Jack Leahy 11  Shilow Tracey

       Lewis Freestone 12  Dilan Markanday
                           (7)72Mins
            Tom McGill 13  Joshua Oluwayemi
          Marc Leonard 14  Brooklyn Lyons-Foster
             (3)67Mins
          Lorent Tolaj 15  Maurizio Pochettino
                           (11)83Mins
            Ben Wilson 16  Kion Etete
            (10)86Mins     (4)78Mins

Scorers:-
        Longman 37, 61     Richards 28
        Cashman 47
        Tolaj 80 

Booked:-
        Leahy 85(Foul)     Etete 86(Foul)
        Yapi 86(UGC)       Eyoma 90+3(Pull)

Coaches:-
        Simon Rusk         Wayne Burnett

Attendance:– 508
Referee:– Sam Allison
Assistants:– Declan O'Shea & Mark Stevens
Fourth Official:– Greig Walker 

Spurs travelled to the south coast on a wet and windy evening to play Brighton at the AMEX stadium for their second game in five days having had to travel up north to face Blackburn. They were badly beaten 4-0 by Rovers and were looking for a change of fortune to end a run of four games without a win. Brighton were also on a bad run of form having lost their last three games. Last season Spurs lost 2-0 at the Brighton training ground having been held to a 1-1 draw at Stevenage.

Spurs lined up with De Bie making his first appearance in goal behind Eyoma and Binks with Okedina at right back and Hinds on the left. Bowden anchored the midfield with Oakley-Boothe and Maghoma ahead of him. They were flanked by Patterson on the right and Tracey on the left in support of Richards up front.

Spurs defended the South end in the first half which saw both sides move the ball around the midfield looking to get on top. Following early pressure from the hosts Spurs settled and began to push forward and made the first telling effort after 20 minutes when Bowden had a low drive saved by Keto. This was followed by two efforts by Richards. The first struck the crossbar and the second was saved.

Spurs took the lead when Richards beat the keeper at his far post hitting his shot on the turn from a cross by Oakley-Boothe. With Hinds getting forward to fire wide it was looking good for the visitors. That changed when Okedina lost the ball to Leahy who had gone to ground. The ball was switched to the right where Longman's effort looped over the keeper off Hinds to allow the hosts to go in level at half time.

There were no changes for the second half which saw Brighton get an early goal. Leahy was allowed to cross from the left and Cashman scored at the near post. Spurs responded but Maghoma fired over the bar from a Patterson cross. Another chance saw Richards' effort blocked and Oakley-Boothe - following up - also had his shot blocked. Brighton then struck on a counter-attack that saw Longman hit a great effort from outside the area that was unstoppable to open up a 3-1 lead.

The "Seagulls"' tails were up and they looked for more with Yapi heading wide from a corner. Longman fired wide before Spurs made their first change replacing Patterson with Markanday and soon after Bowden was replaced by Etete.

Maghoma dropped to anchor the midfield but when he was caught in possession Brighton went on to get another goal with Longman crossing for Tolaj to add the fourth inside the six yard box. Markanday drew a save before Spurs made their last change replacing Tracey with Pochettino. Etete headed wide at a corner that produced another. This one saw Etete go in late on Keto and getting booked along with Yapi for having a go at the Spurs striker. De Bie saved a header by Tsoungui from a free kick as Brighton were happy to hold and break. In added time Eyoma was caught on the halfway line by Tolaj and was booked for pulling the striker back.

This was a better performance by Spurs who defended well giving the hosts only five attempts on target, but they scored from four, with Spurs guilty of contributing to three. There was a period when Spurs were on top but failed to make that count and paid for it in the end. The contest between Binks and Radulovic was the most interesting as the big Brighton striker tried to out-muscle the Spurs defender before resorting to foul play and diving. He was replaced as Binks came out on top. There is a break before the next league game against Leicester during which an U-19 side will play Bayen Munich in the Champions Youth League and an U-21 team will go to Colchester United in the Leasing.com Cup

Ray

Follow @spursodyssey