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For a player with little match practice
of late and a groin strain, I hate to think what match-winner Mido
will be like when he is 100% ready to go !! His two goals were a
major factor in earning Spurs a vital three points after a bad run of
defeats in the Premiership.
The way that Tottenham lined up, with
Andy Reid making his debut in the left midfield slot, it looked as
though the defence would need to be strong to beef up alight weight
midfield. With Mido selected up front, he added a bit of muscle
to our attack. The way the game
started, it looked as if that would be enough to beat Pompey. A
flowing move found it's way to Simon Davies on the edge of the box and
as he traversed the face of the area, he laid a first time bal into
Mido's path and his shot was walloped over the top. The Egyptian
was also in action shortly after with a dink back into the danger
area, where Stephen Kelly got his head on the end of it and made
Chalkias save. From the resulting corner, Reid swung the ball in
and it flicked off a Portsmouth defender's head, dropping to Ledley
King and his instinctive reaction saw the ball finish up way over the
bar. Spurs were finding a fair bit of joy down our left and Mido
chased a ball down, tricked his way around a defender and played a low
ball into the six yard ox that Stafanovic managed to slice it wide of
the mark. When the visiting side
earned their first corner after 27 minutes, there seemed little
danger, but then Berger played the ball in, Stefanovic ran in with
Mido, Kamara moved Naybet out a bit and his jump met the ball to power
it past Robinson with a well timed header. 0-1 down without a previous
shot in anger and another goal we have let in form a corner. We
now know what the training sessions will be about this week !!! Spurs'
run of unfortunacy with officials continued in the 33rd minute, as
Defoe ran into the area pursued by three Portsmouth players and he
went down under challenge. Why he would have feigned a foul, I
don't know as he was about seven yards out with a clear goal-scoring
opportunity. Mind you, a minute later, it didn't matter as
much. Defoe fed Davies out on the right and he put a cross into
the box where Mido got goal-side of his marker and from six yards out,
he powered a header past Chalkias for the equaliser. He enjoyed
the adulation of the crowd, as his dream of scoring in front of a full
White Hart Lane was realised. It
was a shock that Portsmouth almost went into the break in the lead, as
a ball through saw Kamara get beyond the Tottenham defence and he took
the ball around Robinson and put the ball away. This time, Spurs
were lucky with the ref and he ruled out the strike that had the
Pompey fans jumping up and down, with a handball being spotted.
The half had flown by, but there had
been periods of untidy play from both sides and the ref had stopped
the game unnecessarily on more than one occasion. This had
resulted in fractured play and some Spurs players were lucky not to
end up with fractured legs, as Cisse went in late on three separate
Tottenham men. It was an injury
that sparked off the second half, when Mido got on the end of Defoe's
stood up cross and only succeeded in heading Primus' head and
treatment was required for both players. Mido then headed the
ball just over the top and Defoe smashed a ball goalwards, but he only
succeeded in felling Stefanvoic by hitting him in the midriff.
Mido took the ball on the edge of the area and turned to curl an
effort on target, but it made Chalkias flop on the ball, but in the
next attack, the new striker got his second goal. A
loose ball in the area was picked up by Defoe and he hit s hot that
was blocked. He got to the rebound and laid the ball across goal
after bamboozling two defenders on the right. As it flew in the
corridor of uncertainty, it was left by other defenders and at the far
post Mido stood waiting to hit the ball into an unguarded net.
The two players embraced and perhaps a star and a partnership was
born. The pressure on the
Portsmouth goal grew and Spurs had a string of four corners on the
trot with Michael Brown going the closest with a header at the near
post. When another, worked short with Mido, fell to Defoe at the
far post, he hit a shot that was blocked by the legs of Matthew
Taylor. When play finally got down to the Park Lane End that
Spurs were defending, the defence backed off as Cisse approached the
penalty area and he curled a shot that had Robinson diving in vain,
but he had lifted it too high above the angle. Mido
had taken a knock in a penalty area exchange, leading to his
substitution by Robbie Keane. Pompey decided to go for it, with
Fuller coming on in place of Berger and young midfielder Mezague on
for O'Neil. With Portsmouth relying on dead ball situations to
create their chances, a free-kick lead to the ball being shot
goal-bound by Yakubu, who had a mostly quiet game (apart from one
outrageous dive in the box) and he saw Robinson keep it out. Davies
ran endlessly and showed he is not far off his form of two seasons ago
and he picked out a pass to Jermain and he let himself down, with a
weak attempt to lob the keeper, which produced an easy save.
However, Defoe linked well with Reid on the left of the penalty area
and out him in with a back-heel, with the Irish winger striking a low
shot that beat Chalkias, but rebounded out off the post and he almost
got to the bal again, but it was just out of his reach. Within
seconds, it was all academic as Reid's deft ball into the left hand
channel in the area to Keane was taken early and it rose over the
Greek keeper and dropped into the opposite side of the net from a
narrow angle. It was a real piece of opportunist finishing that
only Keano could have produced, making his contribution to the side
evident, but more mystifying when he goes on mazy runs into dead ends
rather than getting an end product like this. Spurs
could have grabbed fourth near the end of added time for
stoppages. Defoe had a shot blocked after Davies pulled s right
wing cross back to him and the ball came out to Carrick 25 yards
out. He had Davies as an option on the right and Defoe inside
him, but he drilled in a shot, that was going well wide, until Robbie
Keane ran in and missed getting a goal-scoring contact on it by a
foot. However, the one moment
that made this match one to remember was the thigh high ball played
into Mido five yards outside the box in the first half. Instead
of controlling it, he leapt in the air and as the ball went through
his legs flicked it with the inside of his foot to Defoe, just inside
the box. The England man was shocked to see the ball just a yard
from him, as it was a sublime piece of skill to get it there.
What a goal that would have made !!
MEHSTG TOP MAN : - MIDO
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