BARCLAYS PREMIER RESERVE LEAGUE SOUTH
Fulham v Aston Villa
Tuesday September 29th, 2009
Kick-Off 7pm
On Tuesday evening the Development Squad face the reigning Barclays Premier Reserve League South champions Aston Villa at Motspur Park (KO 7pm). Tuesday's clash will be Fulham's first home fixture of the season, with Villa retaining the title they also won from the 2007-08 season.
The Midlands club actually went one better than that last year by winning the play-off final against the Northern section winners Sunderland to be crowned national champions.
Tonight’s game is actually our third Development Squad fixture of the season with the away fixtures at Arsenal and Birmingham having already taken place. Our opening result against Arsenal was a disappointing one with the Gunners scoring three times without reply.
Two weeks ago we gained our first point of the season courtesy of a 1-1 draw at Solihull. Eddie Johnson the first man to hit the target for the Whites Development Squad this season, levelling the game soon after Gary McSheffery had given the Blues the lead from the penalty spot.
Making their first Fulham appearances in that fixture were new signings David Elm and Kagisho Dikgacoi. The team also included Pascal Zuberbühler, Fredrick Stoor and Seol Ki-Hyeon playing alongside the five young players who went on to travel to Sofia where they were named amongst the substitutes for the Europa League tie.
Villa have already played three games prior to tonight and thus far have a 100 per cent record. The title defence started in fine style with a 4-0 win at Chelsea, skipper Ciaran Clark scoring twice against the Blues. This result followed up with successive home wins against West Ham (2-1) and Portsmouth (2-0). The Hammers game saw a goal scoring return for one of Villa’s most notable young stars in Nathan Delfouneso, a former England youth international who made four Premier League appearances last season.
Barry Bannan is another who has been a regular in the reserve side for the past few seasons, the Scottish U21 international who made 10 appearances on loan at Derby last season hitting the first goal against Portsmouth. Also on target in this game was Australian-born midfielder Chris Herd who has had loan spells with both Port Vale and Wycombe.
The most experienced member of the reserve squad this season is goalkeeper Andy Marshall who joined Villa from Coventry in August 2009. Marshall has almost 400 League appearances with seven previous clubs since making his debut for Norwich back in 1994.
Defensively the regular starters are American Eric Lichaj, Ireland U21 international Eric Lowry, Ciaran Clark and Nathan Baker. The midfield is usually marshalled by Moustapha Salifou, Isaiah Osbourne and Marc Albrighton. Others who may appear tonight include striker Andreas Weimann, defender Matthew Roome and forwards Adam McGurk and James Collins.
