Spurs won 2-1 with goals from Jack Barthram and Ryan Mason. Spurs XI (4-2-3-1): Miles (Archer, 46); Byrne, Hall (Ekong, 68), Veljkovic, Stewart; Bentaleb, Gomelt; Pritchard (Barthram, 58), Mason, Ceballos (Munns, 58); Bostock.
It was well worth the trip down the A3 last evening to see this game. Kingsmeadow is a 3 sided ground and with only 2 turnstiles open for all 3 sides, it was inevitable this lack of preparation would mean a delayed kick off. The attendance was later given as 865 which was clearly larger than the home club anticipated. Spurs had Freund in the main stand overseeing things and Sherwood and Ferdinand were giving instructions from the touchlne on the far side of the pitch from Freund. On the Kingstonian touchline playing a coaching role, was Sky TV's Martin Tyler. Although Spurs won comfortably in the end, the truth is we struggled at times in the first half to break a rugged defence down. Jonathan Miles in goal looked very nervy early on although he later regained his composure and made a couple of good saves, one of which was an excellent reflex stop. Alex Pritchard caught the eye with his productivity from a wide position and Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason looked comfortable on the ball and were always looking to thread a pass through a resolute defence. John Bostock can play in a midfield of 4, he can play in a midfiled of 3, and he can play as a second striker, but in a more advanced role as main striker as he was last night, then he is lost. When Spurs played a 4-3-3 in the second half and he had more support, he still was lost. Spurs were far more effective in the second half and if we had kept it at 2-0, then that would have been a fair score, but a clumsy challenge from replacement keeper Jordan Archer, gave Kingstonian a penalty to make it 2-1. Spurs' aims of the evening were accomplished, 15 fringe/youth players were give useful run-outs, no injury problems and Freund was given the opportunity to assess our back up options. On last night s showing, he would have been impressed with Alex Pritchard, the central defensive pairing of Grant Hall and Gomelt looked solid and Mason and Ceballos showed glimpses of promise. Nathan Byrne at RB has recovered well from a long term injury, but will need to up his game this season if he is to be seen as a serious challenger for that spot and Bostock need games in his best and preferred position to stand a chance of making it with us.
KIngstonian were only expecting about 350,and Martin Tyler is a board member,or suchlike at Kingstonian.
The match programme had him down as club coach and he certainly played that role yesterday, but I am sure you're right, he is also involved at board level.
Cheers for the report, OS Would've liked them to take atleast one recognised striker(no SouleyCouli?). I know it's not an important game and just one player out of position but not having a focus to attacks and an outball can affect everyone's game behind them, rendering it all a bit pointless. Good to hear Kingstonian got a much better turnout than expected, was it due to a lot of Spurs fans going or just general interest?
Morning YV Well I gather Coulibaly played a full 90 minutes on Saturday in a behind closed doors match, so that probably explains his absence, but yes, I do agree with what you're saying. There seemed to be a lot of local interest in this game and if Kingstonian expected 350, then I would suggest there were at least that number there wearing Spurs colours.
Morning Is that perhaps a sign that Coulibaly's being prepared to be tested at a higher level, or was he simply plucked out of the younger side to "fill in" for the other friendly? A bit of both then with regards to the attendance. I can't remember any problems like that when I went to see them play a Fulham XI about 5/6 years back, good to see there was some significant interest in this game.
If the match had been a bit closer to home I would've loved to have gone last night, always get a buzz looking at the potential future talent. Heard from various people who went last night that Pritchard was excellent Spurcat, do you know if he's still looking to leave the club? I remember hearing that QPR were very interested and he was thinking of going there to push through to the first team quicker? Bostock just seems like he's already accepted he's not going to make it at the club by the sounds of it, even if he was being played out of position. Shame for the lad to have wasted so much potential.
I am hoping we see Coulibaly tomorrow at Stevenage, as I believe the club are looking to test him at a higher level. I think last Saturday was a case of him being almost the only forward available as it was predominantly a reserve game. Harry Kane wasn't around as he's only just got back from England under 19 commitments. I'd like to see Coulibaly and Kane play together, as I think that could be a promisisng partnership.
Morning Gio Your contacts are right mate, Pritchard was excellent., and indeed he usually is. I saw him a lot last season playing with Massimo Luongo and they complemented each others game so well. Last night he played wide and was by far our most impressive player particuarly in the first half when we struggled to get going early on in the game. I know nothing about any prospective move to QPR other tahn what I saw in a paper at the beginning of he summer. Getting back to Bostock, I have always defended the player as I think he has the talent. Some of his touches are sublime, but the reality is that he desperately needs game time. He enjoyed his time last season at Swindon and they enjoyed having him, and if the rumoured loan deal back there does happen, then I feel that would suit all parties.
Morning Spurcat Glad to hear the Pritchard talk was just paper gossip then, from your reports and the reports of others I know close to the club I've been told he's one of our brightest talents. What was the reason for Luongo missing out do you know? On the striker front, I guess with Coulibaly rested for Wednesday the only option would've been Lancaster, but am I right in thinking he's injured at the moment? I hope your faith in Bostock is repaid in his performances over the next year wherever he is as it surely must be his make or break season for the club.
We genuinely didn't have any strikers available: Defoe is our only senior striker and since he was at the Euros he isn't back in training yet so he can't play on Wednseday. Harry Kane was with the England U19's so he probably isn't available yet. I'm not sure where Jonathan Obika is but I wouldn't be suprised if we have sold him. Cameron Lancaster is injured. That means Coulibaly is our only striker ready to play on Wednesday (which we have to prioritise as it's not a Spurs XI game). Shows how badly we need to get some strikers in.
Jonathan Obika is still at the club. Well at least he is until he makes his annual loan move to Yeovil. !!
Somehow, Obika wasn't among the batch of youngsters released last week. Seriously, who does he have candid photos of? We should certainly be worried when Shaquile Coulthirst gets a game. Then again, Veljkovic, Ekong, Bantaleb and Gomelt are all academy players, and most of them got 90 minutes.
Surely it's unfortunately getting to the point now where we can see that he doesn't have a future at the club, he actually had a better goal rate when he first went to Yeovil in 2009-2010 than in 2011-12 and he turns 22 in September.
