U-18 Pre-season friendly
       Hotspur Way, Bulls Cross, Enfield
      Saturday 27th July 2013, 12.00 noon

           SPURS     v    NOTTM. FOREST
       (White/Blue)         (All Red)
           4-3-3              4-5-1

            2(1)               1(0) 

Spurs:– Priestley(Voss 59), Campbell-Young(Walkes 59), Walker-Peters(Owen 61), Lesniak, Maghoma(Carter-Vickers 59), Ogilvie(Loft 85), Sonupe(Omani 61), Pritchard(Onomah 59), Goddard(Amos 59), Georgiou(Ross 61), Akindayini (Walker, 61)

Scorers:– Akindayini 29, Georgiou 55

Forest:– Durrant, Polimos, Thomas, Gnahore, Worrall, Karo, Mulraney, Worthington, Elliott, Otim, Burke.

Subs unknown.

Scorer:– Karo 78

It was a hot afternoon at the training ground for this friendly match where all the younger members of the Academy got a chance to show what they could do. While the first team was in Hong Kong and the U-21's in Portugal there was still a good sized crowd to watch.

Spurs lined up with Priestley in goal behind Ogilvie and Maghoma with Campbell-Young at right back and Walker-Peters on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Goddard and Pritchard alongside him. Akindayini led the attack with Sonupe and Georgiou in support.

Spurs defended the East end in the first half which saw the visitors make the better start attacking on the counter. Priestley kicked a clearence against Maghoma giving a headed chance to Elliott who saw it run wide. Georgiou did good work on the left before laying the ball off for Akindayini who fired wide. Elliott got through the middle but put the ball over the bar before he got a cross in from the left for Otim to turn wide. Elliott got through again to draw a save from Priestley for a corner.

Georgiou worked the ball to Pritchard who found Akindayini. He forced a save from Durrant at the expense of a corner. Spurs went in front when a ball over the top by Lesniak into the path of Akindayini saw the striker score with a low finish. The goal spurred on the home side with Akindayini setting up Georgiou for a drive that was saved. A ball into the centre saw Pritchard and Georgiou with chances to increase the lead. Sonupe made a couple of good attacking runs down the right before he had an effort that went wide.

There were no changes for the start of the second half which saw Spurs continue to press. Sonupe played in for Pritchard to fire wide and then set up Georgiou who also was wide. Georgiou was sent away in the left channel but could not beat Durrant. Ogilvie collected a clearance from Worrell and played a long ball to the left flank for Georgiou to beat the offside trap and run on and score across the keeper. Durrant did get a hand to the ball, but could not prevent the winger from making it 2-0.

Spurs then made a host of changes with Amos and Onomah coming into the midfield. Walkes, Carter-Vickers, and shortly after Owen came on at the back. There was a new front three in Omani, Walker and Ross.

Forest also made changes and also put more bite into their challenges which got them back into the game. One of the subs fired over before they pulled a goal back. Gnahore collected a clearance from a corner, and curled it into the area. The ball was deflected into the path of Karo at the far post and the big defender steered it home.

Voss saved well from another Forest attack before Ogilvie had to go off with cramp to be replaced by Loft, a striker, who went up front. Spurs played out the rest of the game defending deep pushing the front three up on to the Forest back line.

This was a good work out for the academy squad as Forest provided strong opponents. With so many players getting a run out it shows that it is a squad which has depth to it. The academy are completing at the Eurofoot tournament next weekend in Belgium. I will also be there to let you know how they do.

Ray

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