Spurs under 18’s versus Fulham: (match preview)

After a successful trip to Italy to compete in the annual Torneo Maggioni in Turin last week, Spurs’ first year scholars will have brought back confidence to Parker’s camp ahead of our under 18’s trip to Fulham on Saturday morning, after an impressive tournament. Spurs finished in third place, topping a group containing Juventus, Borgaro Nobis and Dynamo Kyiv. Only losing on penalties to the eventual winners of the competition (Atalanta) in the semi finals. Spurs managed to find it in them to beat Juventus for a second time, a couple of hours later to win the third place play off. John McDermott’s side thrived in the warm conditions and his young side which contained players as young as 14, adapted really well to the Italians slow tempo style of play and looked more than comfortable in possession against their opponents. You can rewatch all of Spurs’ games on Borgaro’s YouTube channel. And even if your not that interested in watching the full games, they’re worth viewing for the individual excellence of Irish wonder kid Troy Parrott alone, who enjoyed an excellent tournament. Scoring ten goals in five games and in the process securing the golden boot. Other Spurs players who picked up individual awards were J’neil Bennett (best young player), Dilan Markanday (best foreign player) and Maximus Tainio (best defender). Having watched four of our five games, I was most most impressed with Parrott. The range of his goals was phenomenal and his menacing pressing forced teams into making errors. Regarding tomorrows league game against Fulham at Motspur Park, Parker’s side will be looking to respond to an unlucky 2-0 defeat to West Ham in their last outing and will be bolstered with the likes of Maghoma and Bowden all available for selection.

Owing to our under 23’s game against Derby on Saturday lunchtime, I will be unable to cover the Fulham game, sadly. Which is a shame as I’m anticipating a really good game, as two attacking sides who are very close to each other in the table prepare to do battle. We have faced the cottagers on two previous occasions this season and both of those games have ended in 2-1 defeats. Renowned for their academy, Fulham’s main danger man consists of tricky forward Sony Hilton who caused our fullbacks an absolute nightmare of a time in our last meeting back in the league cup. Owing to his excellent form in Italy I would expect schoolboy Troy Parrott to make his third start of the season for the under 18’s and I certainly wouldn’t bet against him adding to his excellent recent goalscoring form. COYS

My predicted lineup: (4-2-3-1) De Bie (c), Hinds, Tainio, Dinzeyi, Reynolds, Bowden, P.Maghoma, Markanday, Patterson, Richards, Parrott.

Subs from: Freeman, Statham, A.Shashoua, Bennett, Clarke.

Doubtful: Jubril Okedina (leg).

Injured/unavailable: Brooklyn Lyons-Foster (ligaments).

My score prediction: Spurs 4-1.

One to watch: The cottagers skilful forward Sony Hilton.