|
3.3.2002
London
FA Youth Cup Final
at Mile End Stadium, East London
| Watford
Under-15s |
5 |
0 |
Tottenham
Hotspur Under-15's |
The Under-15s were
unlucky to lose out to a strong Watford side in the Final of the London FA
Youth Cup at the Mile End stadium. Echoing the male team's
experience of last Sunday, they paid the price for not taking the chances
they created and were punished, despite having the bulk of the play during
the match.
Having started with a
smart attack, Spurs earned a second minute corner, which was played in low
to Meroulla Lazarou. her shot on the turn struck the post and
bounced out of play. The width of the goalpost had denied Tottenham
an ideal start, but straight form the goal-kick, Watford launched a long
ball upfield on the left wing and their number eight beat Kelly Waite to
the ball and lobbed it over the keeper into the net. Spurs
hit back and took the game to Watford with Lazarou forcing the keeper to
save at her feet and then the ball fell to Ruth Yonatan, who hit her shot
wide in the sixth minute. Shortly after, Lucy Auguste broke into the
left side of the box and the keeper saved to concede a corner. With
12 minutes gone, Rosi Webb broke through, but was just unable to latch
onto a long through ball, but a similar move at the other end saw Watford
go two up much against the run of play. Almost
immediately, Yonatan was denied by the keeper and then Auguste shot wide
from a long throw-in, followed by a header that also just slipped
wide. With half of the first half gone, Watford forced a corner,
when Waite saved well and from it, they had a header that went wide.
In the next Tottenham attack, the ball fell invitingly for Lucy Auguste to
have shot, which just cleared the bar ... from almost on the halfway line
!! The half closed with Tottenham on the attack again, as Yonatan
fed Lazarou and as the keeper came out to close her down, the Spurs
striker's shot went just over the bar. The
second half started in the worst fashion for Spurs as a move down the left
saw the Watford winger cut inside and fire a shot that went in off the
post. Despite the score being 0-3, Tottenham still had the balance
of play and Lazarou again went through, but hit the shot too high, while
Yonatan forced the Hornets keeper into a save from long range. There
were goalmouth scrambles at both ends, but no clear shots on goal, until a
volley into the box by Samantha Crew went just out of reach of Stephanie
Constantinides. With
just about an hour coming up on the clock, a long ball out of defence by
Watford reached their number two on the left, who cut inside and hit a
hard shot that Waite got a hand to, but knocked it up in the air and the
defender on the line was just unable to keep it out for the fourth goal. Undeterred,
Spurs went on the search for a goal and it nearly came when a corner with
ten minutes to go was headed by Yonatan, but she was just unable to get
the contact she needed to guide it in. With the clock ticking away,
Watford hit the Spurs post and Lucy Auguste made a last ditch saving
tackle, but from the resulting corner, the ball flew to the far post and
was skillfully volleyed in post a host of players to round off the scoring. The
scoreline was harsh on the Tottenham girls, who had pushed Watford back
for long periods and three of the goals came from long ball
breakaways. All the girls acquitted themselves well and kept going
for the whole game - never letting their heads drop, but special mention
should be made of Lucy Auguste, who was everywhere and Katie Jackson, who
put in a captain's performance at the heart of the defence. Team
: - Kelly Waite; Stephanie Cooper, Katie Jackson, Vicki Lewis, Dominique
Clarke; Stephanie Constantinides, Lucy Auguste, Ruth Yonatan; Meroulla
Lazarou, Rosi Webb, Tiffany Ellis (Samantha Crew). For
photos of the day click here
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