Newcash United (Home) 29.08.2026

Apart from a couple of late rushes out to grab the ball off Magpies striker’s feet in the box, Kinsky didn’t have too much to do, other than pick the ball out of the net twice.  Conversely, while Spurs had a more shots on goal, the only difficult save that Hornicek was from an Omar Marmoush corner when he threw up a hand to keep out Jan Paul van Hecke’s header.  Other than that the chances we had were little more than half-chances and the turning of those into goals in tight matches is going to eb key to any progress the team is to make.

With Savio side-lined, having his phot taken with Spurs fans, Omar Marmoush made his debut in front of a three man attacking midfield that included Pedro Porro on the right wing.  Newcash kicked off and attacked with Elanga lifted a ball across the face of goal towards the far post, but Archie Gray put behind for a corner that was cleared and the visitors poor delivery of free-kicks and corners helped keep the Tottenham goal unthreatened for much of the match.

Mateus Fernandes whacked into the back of Dedic after the ball had gone and then a stretching tackle by Micky van de Ven on Wissa in the third minute sent the forward tumbling and the referee couldn’t get his card out quickly enough.  Fair enough but the card stayed firmly in his pocket as Thiaw wiped out Marmoush from behind with no hope of winning the ball in the 18th minute.  And Willock had committed a couple of late challenges (one on Tonali cheering up the Barcode fans) then Gonzalez threw Gray to the floor and as JP ran in to play the ball forward, the Newcash midfielder got a trip on JP, as the Spurs man looked to move forward with the loose ball.  Gonzalez did go into the book, but only after Micky had convinced the referee that there two fouls in the same bit of action. 

In the 15th minute, Marmoush turned in midfield to pass left to Mathys Tel and he stepped inside to fire a shot at goal heading for the far top corner, but Hornicek pushed it away with a good save.  Tel was involved again and slipped a pass into the box for Andy Robertson to put the ball across, but Hall got there before Mateus Fernandes.  The clearance only went as far as Tonali in the area and he pulled his shot although it ended up at Pedro Porro’s feet on the penalty spot.  The Spanish international shaped to shoot, sending Miley sprawling before getting a shot away with his right foot that would have been heading in if not for Hall getting a block on it that took it wide. 

Porro was revealing in his new role, finding himself on the edge of the area, where he shuffled the ball and Willock stood on his foot inches outside the box, but Bankes joined the great refereeing conspiracy by not giving a free-kick.  Referees over the last couple of years appear to referee Tottenham games differently … and not in a good way.  Whether there is unconscious bias despite what all officials say, but we don’t get decisions go our way when the same offence is awarded when other teams are playing.

Porro rifled back a left footed volley from the left of the D that whistled just over the bar from a cleared corner, before Micky produced a finely timed challenge to take the ball away from Wissa after Elanga had headed the ball down in the box.  One Spurs corner routine that worked was a long ball beyond the far post where Marmoush was left free, but his weak side-foot volley went into the side-netting, when an on-target shot could have gone anywhere.  Straight from that Newcash broke and as van Hecke slid in to block Willock’s effort, the ball went the right side of the post for Spurs, as the deflection had wrong-footed Kinsky.  Hornicek was then called into action when Marmoush played a smart ball to Robertson who forced a save at the near post.  The corner came in with 36 minutes gone and van Hecke met it with his forehead, but it was too close to the keeper, who palmed the ball up and then punched it away with a free-kick given for him crashing into two of his own players.  Tottenham then almost created a breakthrough when Tel won the ball in the centre circle with Omar taking it on and feeding Porro on the right.  His low ball across the box was looking for Tel but didn’t have enough weight on it, allowing the keeper to cut it out.

Mathys popped up on the right and received a pass that saw him take on Gonzalez, chop the ball back and swing a low left foot ball into the near post, where Tonali was just a little bit behind it.  Tonali made what is becoming a trademark turn in midfield to turn goal-wards, putting Porro in for a shooting opportunity, but it was blocked by the man right in front of him.  

The first incident of the second half concerned Marmoush, who got to Tel’s cross first at the back of the box and Thiaw crashed in taking the striker with him, but again the ref waved away penalty shouts and when Newcash went forward, Hall hit a right footed effort that flew a couple of feet over Kinsky’s bar just before Elanga touched a through ball past Toni as he rushed out.  Fortunately, the ball went too far towards the dead-ball line and although the winger kept it in, it was only for van Hecke, who tidied up.  The crowd and Mateus Fernandes were furious when Wissa over-ran the ball and the Portuguese midfielder went in to challenge, with the Magpie finding the turf except Mateus didn’t actually touched him on the replay and Wissa’s love affair with the green stuff continued as it had done all match. 

An hour in and we saw what Marmoush is capable of.  Getting the ball in midfield, he turned away from one blue short, nut-megged Gonzalez, leaving him limping and then let fly with an early taken shot from 25 yards that had the keeper scrambling across his goal and grateful to see the ball go two feet wide.  Two minutes later the ball was in the net, but at the other end.  A long diagonal from Gonzalez to Dedic was won in the air against Robertson, with the ball falling to Elanga, he turned in the box past a covering Tonali and swivelled to shoot in off Kinsky’s right hand post for the visitors to take the lead.

When Gonzalez stepped across Tonali to give SPurs a free-kick just ten yards outside the box, Tel stepped up to take it and slipped, ballooning the ball over the bar.  It was the last thing he did in the match.  A lot of fans were happy about that and I am not sure why he has suddenly become the whipping boy.  Every mis=placed pass brings groans from sections of the crowd, while others do the same without the same reaction.  Anyway, he left the pitch with Robertson and Gray for Udogie, Kudus and Moore to replace them.  Mo’s first couple of touches put low poor crosses into the box, but when one came out to Porro he drilled it back at goal, rising and forcing Hornicek to tip it over the top.    

Winning a right wing corner, it was swung to the far post where Woltemade heaed the ball down to the six yard box and Wissa was in too much space and that allowed him to fall backwards and over-head hook the ball past Kinsky. 

Botman went in late on Kudus after the whistle had gone for a foul on Solanke sparking a few players to get in each other’s faces and again, the booking had to be argued for by the Spurs players.  Mohamed was causing the Newcash defence problems as he twice got to the dead ball line, but when Newcash broke, Barnes was played into the box, with Kinsky timing his advance well to block him, then he dug the ball out to Woltemade, who swung at it and it went way wide.  There was an offside flag, but I don’t know who or when it happened, as play continues for so long until the flag is waved. 

van Hecke did well one-on-one with Woltemade as he received a pass on the edge of the D with our defender being the last man.  Spurs were still trying but the efforts were getting more desperate.  Mikey Moore came in off the left anf hit a right foot shot that swerved away from goal, Porro’s cross was just too strong for Moore and then Fernandes won the ball off Botman and picked out Marmoush at the far post, but his side-foot volley wasn’t strong enough to beat the keeper.  When Mateus won the ball, Botman fell on the dead ball line and dragged one of the footballs on the cones onto the pitch in an attempt tog et the game stopped.  The officials didn’t spot it, but that wasn’t surprising as often Bankes was looking the other way when play was behind him.

On 90 minutes a forward ball almost put Barnes away, but his first touch was heavy and again Kinsky did well to grab the ball at his feet and then Tottenham had an opportunity lat eon, as Udogie pulled a ball back inside the box to Solanke on the six yard line.  He tried to drag it in from behind his standing leg, but there wasn’t enough on it allowing Hall to clear away from in front of goal.

It all kicked off at the final whistle, when Spurs showed some fight with Porro and Fernandes facing up to Ramsey and Thiaw, but there were some boos from the South Stand as our poor home record continues.  Another disappointing home defeat, but one which did show some faint glimmers of hope for games to come.  The return of Kudus was welcomed and the passing had a assuredness for parts of the match, the issues that need to be addressed are our fitness levels and the defensive awareness, which the first would also help.  Newcash found it too easy to play out from the back against Tottenham’s un-co-ordinated press and were afforded too much space in midfield with a discernible gap between the forwards and the back four.  Tottenham did show some better sharper passing today, but still lack the finishing touch to their attacks.  De Zerbi still has some work to do, even though this was a fairly even match despite the score and with the transfer window closing on Tuesday, it could be a busy few days.

• Newcash’s second goal was their 100th in away matches against Tottenham.