Tottenham and Co. Armagh Draw Opening NI Milk Cup 2012 Match

Tottenham and County Armagh drew 1 – 1 in their opening match played at Shamrock Park Park, Portadown. A young Spurs team took an early lead and were comfortable but as the match went on the home team became more dangerous. It was a bad defensive mistake, however, that presented them with their goal. Spurs then missed a penalty to secure victory. County Armagh deserved a point for their endeavour and play. Just as in 1997 when the two teams previously met in the Milk Cup, the match ended as a draw.

County Armagh 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Tottenham Scorer: Oduwa

Team: Priestly (1); Lyons-Foster (4), Vincent-Young (2) (Campbell-Young (7)), Ogilvie (3), Walton-Owens (6); Sonupe (18) (Harrison (14)), Winks (12) ((Goddard (9)), Pritchard (8) (Amos (10)), Miller (11), Georgiou (17); Oduwa (15) (Walkes (6)).

[**The team is as announced – numbers given out didn’t correspond to those for the Tottenham squad on NI Milk Cup 2012 website]

Tottenham played a 4-5-1 system with Nathan Oduwa as the lone strilker. In midfield Emmanuel Sonupe showed pace on the right and was later switched with Oduwa to play as the striker. Joe Pritchard, Harry Winks and William Miller were the three in midfield who constantly interchanged. Amon Walton-Owens and Anthony Georgoiu were on the left and constantly swapped between left back and left midfield. As always Tottenham looked to play quick passing football with everyone very comfortable on the ball and trying to get forward.

Before a big crowd at the home of Irish league team, Portadown, the main stand was well filled, Spurs started brightly and Miller had a shot over when Oduwa dispossessed a defender and laid the ball across to him. Priestly then came out quickly to collect a long through ball as Co. Armagh looked to hit Spurs on the break. Oduwa put Spurs ahead after three minutes when played behind the home defence, he finished well. Silence greeted the goal but Oduwa turned to the stand, cupped his hand to his ear and the crowd responded with a deserved cheer.

County Armagh’s response came from a long cross from the left to the back post which was headed past. Sonupe on the right wing was Spurs’ most dangerous threat at this point, using his pace and after ten minutes he had a shot well saved by the goalkeeper. Armagh’s main threat was coming on the break as Spurs pushed more men forward and on one occasion they had two against one but Kodi Lyons-Foster managed to put in the important tackle.

After twenty five minutes, Sonupe twice managed to get in on goal with his pace but lost possession on the first occasion before he could shoot and then the goalkeeper and defender managed to block him.  For the final ten minutes of the half , Sonupe moved forward as the lone striker with Oduwa on the right. With five minutes of the half left, another dangerous Armagh break needed a saving tackle from Connor Ogilvie to clear the danger. Spurs had two late free-kicks which Oduwa took – the first went wide while the second was straight at the goalkpper.

Spurs had the goal advantage at the interval after a half in which they were comfortable and weren’t really extended but they didn’t extend Armagh either. Oduwa had taken his goal well but he only really came to life when he had the ball and could run at defenders. Pritchard, Winks and Miller worked well together in midfield and Ogilvie was the best defender with strength and has developed well since playing at the Milk Cup last year.

At the start of the second half, Channing Campbell-Young replaced Vincent-Young in central defence. In a busy opening to the half Ogilvie had a shot wide and then had to step in to make a clearance when Spurs had carelessly lost possession. Sonupe, now playing as striker, hit the bar with a powerful shot when played in and a cross from the right by Oduwa went across goal but no-one could get on the end of it. Priestly then was called on to make a very good save when Ogilvie was caught for speed as Armagh broke through on goal.

Armagh then started to use their greater strength and were posing more of a threat especially coming out of defence quickly and playing the ball over the Spurs defence which was often reduced to only one or two players as they pushed forward in attack. Sonupe was replaced by Shayon Harrison and Pritchard played Oduwa through but the shot was weak. Luke Amos came on for Pritchard and looked so young in comparison with the other players. He did, however, display great confidence, composure and strength on the ball in spite of his lack of age and size. Another very young player, Cy Goddard, came on for Spurs to replace Winks and like Amos was very composed. Spurs had a dangerous free-kick on the left which went to the far post and a shot across goal was cleared by a defender.

After fifty seven minutes, poor defensive play by Spurs presented Co. Armagh with a goal. Playing the ball around in defence, under no pressure, Ogilvie played the ball into his own area midway between the goalkeeper and a striker. Priestly had no chance of reaching the ball and Armagh were level. It was an unfortunate mistake by Ogilvie who had played well. Within a minute Spurs were awarded a penalty for hand ball. Oduwa stepped forward but the referee took an excessively long time to book a player which seemed to unsettle the striker. His shot was powerful but straight at the centre of goal and the goalkeeper got down well to block it. Shortly after, Anton Walkes replaced Oduwa with ten minutes to go.

Five minutes from time, Ogilvie pushed forward from defence and when through on goal had a powerful shot saved by the goalkeeper. In spite of introducing their younger players, Spurs were still looking for the win and it was Amos and Goddard who were causing the most problems for Co. Armagh, as both set up chances for a late winner.

A draw was a fair result although Spurs were the architect of their own downfall, presenting the home side with a goal as well as missing the penalty. For Tottenham the Milk Cup is not about winning the trophy but about giving young players experience. There was no outstanding ‘star’ in the team, all the players were very comfortable on the ball and Spurs always looked to pass the ball out of defence and played with short quick passing movements. It was enjoyable watching the young players who coped very well against an older and physically stronger team.

On Monday Tottenham play South Coast Strikers from California at Limavady at 7pm. Strikers, rather surprisingly, lost their opening match 2 – 0 to Cherry Orchard (Dublin).