NEWCASH UNITED 1 (1) | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (1) |
(Won 5-4 on pens) | |
Date : – Wednesday 22nd May 2024 | Kick off : – 10.45 (UK time) |
Competition : – Friendly | Venue : – Melbourne Cricket Ground |
Crowd : – 78,419 |
Referee : – Alireza Faghani (Australia) | Linesmen : – Mr. . ??; Mr. . ?? |
Fourth official : – | |
Weather : – Dry, warm, with some rain in the second half | |
Newcash kicked off the first half | |
Playing time : – 90 + 4 minutes |
NEWCASH UNITED | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | ||
GOAL-SCORERS | |||
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Isak 44m 34s | ![]() |
Maddison 31m 02s |
PENALTIES | |||
2nd – White | 1st – Gil (saved) | ||
4th – Parkinson | 3rd – Scarlett | ||
6th – Diallo | 5th – Donley | ||
8th – Kuol | 7th – Hall | ||
10th – Ashby | 9th – Skipp | ||
CARDS | |||
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Skipp (foul on Guimaraes) 54 | |
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NEWCASH UNITED | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | ||
22. | Nick POPE ( 29. Mark GILLESPIE 87) | 40. | Brandon AUSTIN ( 41. Alfie WHITEMAN 78) |
2. | Kieran TRIPPIER (c) ( 23. Jacob MURPHY 37 [ 63. Ben PARKINSON 37]) | 23. | Pedro PORRO ( 35. Ashley PHILLIPS 46) |
17. | Emil KRAFTH ( 65. Ciaran THOMPSON 78) | 6. | Radu DRAGUSIN ( 73. Tyrese HALL 71) |
33. | Dan BURN ( 54. Alex MURPHY 63) | 37. | Micky van de VEN ( 55. George ABBOTT 46 [ 76. Leo BLACK 87]) |
20. | Lewis HALL ( 72. Dylan CHARLTON 78) | 12. | Emerson ROYAL ( 66. Rio KYEREMATEN 87) |
7. | JOELINTON ( 40. Joe WHITE 46) | 30. | Rodrigo BENTANCUR ( 4. Oliver SKIPP 46 ![]() |
39. | Bruno GUIMARAES ( 34. Lucas de BOLLE 71) | 29. | Pape Matar SARR ( 63. Jamie DONLEY 61) |
32. | Elliott ANDERSON ( 90. Travis HERNES 78) | ||
22. | Brennan JOHNSON ( 58. Yago SANTIAGO 69) | ||
24. | Miguel ALMIRON ( 30. Harrison ASHBY 63) | 10. | James MADDISON ![]() |
14. | Alexander ISAK ![]() |
7. | Heung-Min SON (c) ( 11. Bryan GIL 61) |
15. | Harvey BARNES ( 49. Amadou DIALLO 63) | ||
21. | Dejan KULUSEVSKI ( 44. Dane SCARLETT 69) | ||
Substitutes | Substitutes | ||
52. | Jay TURNER-COOKE | 13. | Guglielmo VICARIO |
= Assist
= Goal scored
= Own goal scored
Manager : – Eddie Howe | Manager : – Ange Postecoglou |
Kit Supplier : – Castore | Kit Supplier : – Nike |
Shirt Sponsor : – Sela | Shirt Sponsor : – AIA |
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – Noon | Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – cinch |
Colours : –![]() |
Colours : –![]() |
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website | |
MATCH REPORT |
Flames in the dark and banging music greeted the entry of the teams onto the pitch with Newcash’s side looking a stronger XI than Tottenham’s, with a number of Spurs players missing for various reasons. However, the action soon got underway as Son’s third minute shot hit Krafth’s hand in the box and the referee failed to show any interest in the claims for a penalty, with Newcastle taking the ball straight up the other end with Isak looking for the top left hand corner of Brandon Austin’s goal, but putting it too high.
With Emerson Royal filling in at left-back, as Micky van de Ven returned to the middle in place of Cristian Romero who had returned to Argentina on a personal matter, he got forward and exchanged passes with Son, but couldn’t control the ball under pressure in the six yard box. Newcash were looking to try and catch Spurs on the break and Almiron got away, but Micky’s speed saw any threat disappear. There was lots of probing and passing, but without much penetration until the 22nd minute when Maddison was fed the ball centrally 25 yards out and pulled his shot wide to the left of Pope’s goal and then two balls into the box just failed to pick out Sarr (who couldn’t take the firm pass) and Johnson, but a free-kick for a foul on Son just outside the left corner of the box was touched short by Maddison to our captain. He pushed the ball into the box and Trippier blocked him off and again the referee didn’t look interested in the penalty claims. It was an indirect free-kick at the very least for obstruction, as Trippier made no attempt for the ball, but that is one more of the offences that rarely appear to be in the referee’s mind these days. Spurs started pressing high and got Sarr into the box with a good run, but there were lots of black and white shirts in front of him to crowd him out and he had another shot shortly after that took a deflection and floated through to Pope. Working the ball out from the back from a Newcash offside, Tottenham worked the ball around outside the box and when it looked like we had lost it Porro got to a loose ball first, but it went back to Pope, who played it straight to James Maddison on the 18 yard line. He took the ball past Krafth and as Trippier came to him, slammed a shot with his left foot that went in off the keeper, who tried to save it with his bicep, but could only help it on its way high into the net to his right. Spurs had looked the more composed side and had threatened more than the Jardys, so going ahead in the 32nd minute was probably a fair reward. There was a hit of handball as the ball popped up when Maddison received the ball, which could have seen VAR rule the goal out in the Premier League, but the referee applied the same interpretation of handball as earlier in the game when he turned down a Spurs penalty claim. The game was being played at half-pace with some sudden quickening of the passing and movement, but at the end of a long season, it was a little unsurprising that it wasn’t Premier League pace. With five minutes to go to half-time, Son got space on the left and bent a ball into the middle of the six-yard box, where Brennan Johnson got onto the end of it, but Pope was directly in front of him and blocked his shot with his legs. Kulusevski and Royal passed the ball between them in the Newcash box, but too many defenders meant that they were unable to make a clear shooting chance. Despite having the better of the first half, Spurs had to settle for going into half-time level as Murphy was given space on their right wing and his low ball in was pushed out low at the near post by Austin, straight into the feet of Alexander Isak who sent the ball into the net from a couple of yards out. There was acres of space on the wing, with no midfielder covering the run of Murphy and Spurs were made to pay for that just seconds before half-time. Half-time substitutes saw some of the younger Spurs players come on and it was another youngster, who had the first effort of the second half, trying a shot from 70 yards, but it dropped short and Pope caught it without any problem. Harvey Barnes went closer when Skipp was robbed of the ball and Barnes bent the ball looking for the far side of the goal, but the ball went wide of Austin’s left post. Five minutes into the half, Spurs broke up a Newcash move and Son was away on the left as Tottenham played forward, passing into the box for Royal, who had followed the break, but he was denied by a last ditch tackle by Burn. Skipp got a booking as he grabbed Guimaraes’ shirt, which others had done the same and gone unpunished in the first half as the changes had given Newcash more encouragement to go forward. They pressed Spurs in our own corner, winning the ball as we tried to work it out from there, but Guimaraes could only strike a shot from outside the area straight at Austin. Their next attack was a break saw them break, but they slowed the play outside the box with Anderson waiting inside the area on their left for a pass, but when it eventually came, Royal got a touch on the ball to make the Newcash midfielder miss it and he was probably offside anyway. Tottenham made a quick break to the other end and Son set up Sarr for a right foot shot that was blocked, it came back to his left foot and that shot was blocked, before he tried another right foot effort that went a long way wide. It was Pape and Son’s last involvement as Jamie Donley and Bryan Gil came off the bench to replace them, with Newcash making a few subs a couple of minutes later. When Murphy got free on the Newcash right Ashley Phillips did well to slide in to intercept his low cross and as play continued, Skipp did well to block a shot from Hall before playing it off him for a goal-kick. Emerson Royal played a pass inside the full back to give substitute Yago Santiago on the right wing to put in a cross to the near post that fellow sub Dane Scarlett met with a header that flashed wide. Santiago and Gil worked some neat passes on the right that got Yago into the box, but Pope was out to block his cross for a corner, which didn’t amount to anything, but Spurs were soon on the attack again, with Devine finding Scarlett in the box again ,this time taking his shot first time, but not finding the target. Hernes dragged down Royal just outside the box wide on the right, with Gil’s free-kick headed out for a corner and Bryan took it, planting it onto Royal’s head at the near post with the ball skimming off it across the goal, although Phillips was well-placed directly behind the Brazilian. Gil came in off the right, but pulled his shot six feet wide, while Newcash were still looking to break on Spurs and Diallo went down with Skipp in close proximity, but it was a weak fall from the Newcash sub and Skipp brought the ball away. We worked it out to Santiago, now on the left and his low cross was cleared, but only to Donley on the edge of the box and his shot was dragged wide of the keeper’s left hand post as he was being closed down by defenders. Donley found a pass through to Scarlett in the box with two minutes left, but the striker’s shot was blocked and when Newcash tried to bring the ball out, Spurs were doing well at regaining possession, although when Newcash won the ball high up the pitch, Australian youngster Kuol slipped as it looked as though he might latch onto it. The game ended all square and went to penalties at the end where the Spurs fans were gathered. Bryan Gil took the first, which was saved down to the substitute keeper’s right, while Alfie Whiteman was given little opportunity to save any of the five Newcash penalties, so they “won” the match on a penalty shoot-out 5-4. With the game receiving a lot of criticism for taking place so far away so soon after the season’s end, it was a semi-competitive friendly and the real benefit was for the young players getting time playing with first-teamers and against first-teamers. All the players who came on, some from half-time, some later in the game, but they looked comfortable on the ball and also confident coming into the first team, which bodes well with some of them only shortly after coming out of the Under-18s. Nobody who started had a bad game and the introduction of the youngsters could well see them integrated into the first team squad with more games to be played next season. A useful exercise, with the only question mark about it being so far away in Australia, but exposure in other parts of the world is an important aspect of the game these days. Yes, it is about money and some of the comments around the trip questioning it when FA Cup replays are being scrapped are valid, with the competition being changed which affects the benefits to lower and non-league clubs. But football is big business and don’t be surprised if clubs who crop out of the FA Cup travelling to recoup some of the lost revenue by featuring in friendlies elsewhere. But that’s it now until the travelling starts again, with the trip to Japan and Korea before the season starts. The transfer market will see some new faces replacing some old ones and it will all be focused on the beginning of another new Premier League season in August. Wyart Lane |