The THLFC Under-16s arrived for today’s Chairman’s Cup tie against St Martins without the services of Iris Isok. To say Spurs started the game quietly was an understatement and there was no action of note for the first fifteen minutes of the game.  

On 16 minutes the game burst out of its slumber when Siobhan Wilson played in Rosie Kmita who took the ball into the St Martins and fired a shot that struck the cross bar before rebounding to Nikki Hunnable who saw her shot saved by the keeper.  

Siobhan Wilson then had a couple of shots before Spurs were awarded a penalty kick for hand-ball with 20 minutes on the clock.  The resulting spot kick was dispatched by Siobhan Wilson to make the score 1-0 to Spurs. 

The remainder of the half was played largely in the middle of the park with neither side causing the other defences too many problems. On 37 minutes Rosie thought she had doubled the Spurs lead but was unfortunate to see her goal ruled out for offside. Thus the half ended with Spurs holding a slim 1-0 advantage. 

The second half started in a similar vein to the first with Spurs struggling to exert any authority on the game. Ayse Mustafa and Latoya Bailey both turned provider however Phoebe Eshen and Nikki respectively saw their shots gathered by the St. Martins keeper. 

St Martins broke from defence quickly on a couple of occasions and first Angela McGann then Katie Mills had to be on hand to cut out attacks on the Spurs goal. At the other end Danielle Hayes was unlucky to see her header go straight to the keeper from a corner kick whilst Latoya went close also. 

The closest that Spurs came to increasing their lead in the half came on the hour Ayse saw her shot tipped onto the crossbar by the keeper, who was then able to push the ball round the post from the resulting scramble without a Spurs player being able to get a touch. 

In the final minute of the match a corner from Siobhan Wilson caused havoc in the St Martins penalty area and there were claims by Spurs that the ball crossed the line and for a handball from a Siobhan Jones effort. The referee called it differently and awarded and infringement against Spurs and so the game petered out with a final score of 1-0 to Spurs, which should ensure progress in the competition. 

I always like to take the positives from each match. Today was difficult in that respect – another clean sheet was welcomed and a win is a win. There were also some good individual performances however the girls collectively will need to perform much better next week against Luton if they are to keep their league hopes alive. Hopefully the girls can put this down as a one off poor performance and rebound – which is what quality teams do.

THLFC U16 player(s) of the match: 8 Siobhan Wilson 

paul mills

9.

qpr  -    
harvesters  -    
fairlands youth  -   
luton town youth  -    
letchworth garden city eagles  -    
stevenage borough vixens  -    

harvesters  -    
st. martins  -    
fairlands youth  -   
luton town youth  -    
letchworth garden city eagles  -    
stevenage borough vixens  -    

harvesters  -    
st. martins  -    
fairlands youth  -   
luton town youth  -    
letchworth garden city eagles  -    
stevenage borough vixens  -    

On a cold and miserable St Valentine morning Tottenham Hotspur Ladies' Under-16 girls, who could only muster the bare 11 due to absentees on holiday, arrived at Headstone Manor to play the first round of the League Cup (the only type of matches we have these days). All started brightly and within five minutes a fine passing move between Rosie Kmita, Phoebe Eshen and Siobhan Jones found Latoya Bailey in the box and the first goal arrived.  

From then until the 20^th minute the goal was well peppered by the Tottenham players, and only the opposition goalkeeper and some wayward shooting kept the score down. That was until Phoebe struck the ball from the edge of the box with some venom to make the score 2-0. 

On 30 minutes an unfortunate collision between Siobhan, an opposing forward, and Angela McGann on the edge of the box let the ball run loose and with Angela flat out the referee allowed play to go on allowing Headstone to score. Thankfully it was only a minor knock and Angela bravely continued. 

The onslaught continued and apart from the infrequent forays into the Tottenham half which Harley and the rest of the defence snuffed out very quickly, some stumbles on the pitch which was rough and heavy, and a penalty for a trip on Nikki, that was denied by the referee the game continued and another goal from Latoya just before the half came to an end with the score 3-1 to Tottenham. 

Although the football was far from pretty, the second half started as the first had finished and within seven minutes after a glut of corners, Nikki, who was having a fine game, had a shot which was well saved by the keeper, but she could not hold onto the ball, which was deflected into the path of Latoya to get her hat-trick.  So the game went on and the defence held firm against everything that Headstone had to offer with Harley Keenlyside marshalling well as the wing backs Molly Kmita and Rosie pushed forward at every opportunity.  

The only things stopping goals coming were misplaced passes, giving the ball to the opposition, with which the Tottenham coaching staff was quite vocal about. Nikki was in her element whenever she had the ball at her feet on the right wing and had it not been for the crossbar could have had a hat trick (along with the penalty).  

There was however time for one more goal when a corner from Siobhan found Nikki, whose shot was saved, but went straight to Shauna Magner to plant into the net and end the game at 5-1.

THLFC U16 player(s) of the match: 5 Harley Keenleyside

barry jones

9.

qpr  -    
harvesters  -    
st. martins  -    
fairlands youth  -   
luton town youth  -    
letchworth garden city eagles  -    
stevenage borough vixens  -    

After last weekend’s success in the London FA Youth Cup, Spurs were again in Cup action this weekend – this time in the Home Counties Chairman’s Cup against one of our strongest rivals Queens Park Rangers. 

The match started well for Tottenham with attacks from the start with Siobhan Wilson making her mark on the left wing. Her first attempt flew just wide before shortly afterwards another cross shot went over the bar. With five minutes on the clock Ayse Mustafa crossed to see a back header from Siobhan Jones falling into space with no one able to capitalise. 

QPR however were not to be outdone and an attack down the middle saw Danielle Hayes make a great saving tackle. The game was then quite entertaining end to end football with both teams not wanting to give way. 

Tottenham however had the edge in the middle part of the half playing good attacking football that eventually resulted in a cross/shot from Rosie Kmita squirming under the QPR keeper and into the net on 20 minutes making the score 1-0 to Spurs. 

QPR pushed forward seeking an equaliser and an attack down the right saw Angela McGann gathering the ball in the box.  Tottenham continued their attacking football and after 30 minutes Siobhan Jones had a good run into the opposition penalty area, but saw her shot well saved by the QPR keeper, pushing it over the bar for a corner. The resulting kick from Siobhan Wilson saw the ball reach the head of Siobhan Jones, but the header went narrowly wide. 

It was real end to end stuff by now and following a QPR break Katie Mills was called upon to defend strongly preventing the opposing forwards gaining access to the Spurs penalty area.  The game continued to be hard fought by both teams and only more good defending from Katie Mills and Charlotte Dean kept QPR out of the danger areas.  The half time whistle blew shortly afterwards with the score Tottenham Hotspur 1 QPR 0. 

The second half started in much the same vein as the first finished with both teams attacking trying to breach the others defences.  With 41 minutes gone a good break and cross from Siobhan Wilson was gathered by the QPR keeper.  A minute later some comedy defending by the Spurs defence presented QPR with a chance to draw level, but fortunately for us (and unfortunately for them) the resulting shot flew just wide of our upright. 

With 45 minutes on the clock Iris Isok fired just over the QPR bar and five minutes later Siobhan Jones and Wilson combined only for the latter’s shot to fly just wide.  A minute after that it was QPR’s turn to see a shot fly just over the Spurs bar. 

On the hour Angela saved well from a shot on goal.  The next goal was going to be vital and when it came on 61 minutes it was in Spurs favour.  Rosie passed the ball to Nikki Hunnable, who took the ball into the penalty area and returned it to Rosie, who made no mistake grabbing her second goal of the game making the score 2-0 to Spurs. 

If we thought that was the game settled we were wrong, as QPR came again and both Katie and Danielle had to be on their toes to cut out attacks threatening our goal.  When our defence was breached on 65 minutes Angela bravely dived at the feet of a QPR attacker to save. 

As the game entered its final period Ayse Mustafa fired just past the post before, on 77 minutes, slipping a ball through to Nikki, who saw her goal-bound shot tipped round the post by the QPR keeper.  Nikki found Siobhan Jones with the resulting corner, who passed the ball back to Siobhan Wilson on the edge of the penalty area.  She needed no second invitation and lashed the ball home from all of 25 yards to make the final score 3-0 to Spurs.  

Well done to both teams for putting on an entertaining match on a cold wintery day.  It is my belief that these type of games benefit the players of both teams irrespective of the final score line.  On another day QPR could have had one or two goals and we look forward to future meetings between the two teams.  

THLFC U16 player(s) of the match: 1 Angela McGann 

paul mills

9.

harvesters  -    
st. martins  -    
fairlands youth  -   
luton town youth  -    
letchworth garden city eagles  -    
stevenage borough vixens  -    

The U16s finally got to play their London Cup game against Parkwood on a chilly morning, such that the start was delayed for 30 minutes to allow the ground to soften.  Parkwood were quick out of the blocks and in the second minute had their first shot on goal, which went wide.  

This seemed to wake up the home team and they soon started to take control.  A corner from the left by Nikki Hunnable reached Siobhan Jones whose back header was cleared off the line.  Between that in the fifth minute and the seventeenth minute Tottenham had another nine chances, but failed to convert any.  On 18 minutes a good through ball from Ayse Mustafa sent Nikki free right of centre and her great shot from almost 20 yards flew into the net. 

Siobhan Wilson turned provider after 23 minutes when she whipped in a dangerous corner that Siobhan J forced home with some part of her body other than her foot.  After another couple of missed chances Jayne decided to ring the changes with 30 minutes gone, bringing on Katie Mills, Charlotte Dean and Latoya Bailey to replace Phoebe Eshen, Iris Isok and Harley Keenlyside, making another five chances that went begging and half time was on us. 

The second half began much the same as the first had finished and a fine passing interchange between Ayse and Charlotte resulted in a good save by the opposing goalkeeper with her feet.  Another couple of chances went unconverted before Parkwood had their first shot at goal after 10 minutes of the half. After 15 minutes Jayne again rang the changes and both Siobhans and Shauna Magner gave way to Phoebe, Iris and Danielle Hayes. 

Immediately after the changes Parkwood gained a corner, which was cleared under pressure by Katie.  Ayse, as normal, was having a fine game in midfield within the next five minutes created three chances for the forwards before on 65 minutes Latoya forced home the ball after it fell to her from a save made by the visiting goalkeeper from Phoebe’s shot. 

Phoebe, Nikki and Molly Kmita all had shots saved before Parkwood had another shot on goal which again went wide, Angela was having a very quiet afternoon, but dealt admirably with anything that found its way into the box. Spurs extended their lead on 70 minutes when a through ball from Ayse found Latoya who controlled and a fired home making the lead 4-0.  

Before the restart, Ayse and Nikki were given a well earned rest being replaced by Siobhan J and Shauna. Molly was then taken off shortly afterwards to be replaced by Siobhan Wilson. The defence had to be wide awake as Parkwood continued to show that they did not want to lie down and Angela was called upon to make a save. This encouraged Parkwood and another attack saw Siobhan Wilson clear the ball up field to Siobhan J, who was caught offside. 

Continual instructions from the bench were making sure that the Tottenham girls kept their minds on the job in hand. More opportunities came and went, noticeably a shot from Siobhan J that was deflected on the bar and a good shot from Phoebe that the keeper saved, and not to be outdone the opposition had another effort saved by Angela.  

The Tottenham defence dealt with everything that Parkwood had to offer throughout the game.

Danielle Hayes was busy on the right hand side of midfield and Shauna on the left as Spurs pushed forward seeking more goals.  

All in all a very workmanlike performance although well handled under difficult underfoot conditions, and considering this was only their second game since the beginning of December the girls of Tottenham will only improve. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL PLAYERS AND COACHING STAFF ON WINNING THE LONDON CUP.

THLFC U16 player(s) of the match: 10 Siobhan Jones

barry jones

9.

qpr  -    
harvesters  -    
st. martins  -    
fairlands youth  -   
luton town youth  -    
letchworth garden city eagles  -    
stevenage borough vixens  -