6  Nedum ONUOHA
  4  Steven CAULKER
  5  Rio FERDINAND
13  YUN Suk-Young

  7  Matt PHILLIPS
20  Karl HENRY       (39  Reece GREGO-COX 88)
30  SANDRO    (11  Shaun WRIGHT-PHILLIPS 93)
14  Mauricio ISLA (23  Junior HOILETT 71)

25  Bobby ZAMORA (c)
  9  Charlie AUSTIN

Unused subs: 
12  Alex McCARTHY
  6  Clint HILL
19  Niko KRANJCAR
41  Brandon COMLEY
 

  2  Kyle WALKER
  5  Jan VERTONGHEN
15  Eric DIER
33  Ben DAVIES

38  Ryan MASON      
42  Nabil BENTALEB      

17  Andros TOWNSEND  (19  Mousa DEMBELE 65)
23  Christian ERIKSEN  (25  Benjamin STAMBOULI 88)
22  Nacer CHADLI  (11  Erik LAMELA 79)

18  Harry KANE   

Unused subs: 
13  Michel VORM
  3  Danny ROSE
21  Federico FAZIO
  9  Roberto SOLDADO
 

What was lined up by the media as Harry Kane v Charlie Austin turned into a no contest, with Kane's double giving Spurs the three points, with Austin drawing a blank through his lack of subtlety in finishing.

Spurs took to the field with the same line up as the last two matches save for Ben Davies replacing Danny Rose. Rangers' injury problems saw them start with Onuoha starting despite gashing his cheek in midweek, Isla was fit and played in an advanced right wing role and Karl Henry took the enforcer role in the middle of midfield. Chris Ramsey handed the captain's armband to Bobby Zamora against his old club, but he hardly led by example throughout the 90 minutes.

Referee Craig Pawson had been on the bench last Sunday taking in Anthony Taylor's shameful display in the League Cup Final. He put it all into practice today, with blatant fouls going unpunished and simple decisions made incorrectly by both him and his assistants. Sometimes, it is almost inconceivable that these people are aware of the laws of the game, let alone understand how to apply them. Yes, yes ... it is a difficult job, but they don't make it easy for themselves.

The game started at a fair lick and QPR might have had a goal-scoring opportunity in the first minute. A long throw was flicked into the middle of his own penalty area by Kyle Walker, Charlie Austin had a shot at goal, but it was blocked out of the penalty area, falling to Isla to lob it high back into the danger area. Zamora jumped highest to win the header and looped it at goal, with the ball landing on top of the crossbar and it went over for a goal-kick.

Walker was involve din the next worrying moment for the home defence, as his whipped in cross from the right found Harry Kane's head, but his bullet near post header was straight at Green, who did well to get it over the bar.  Townsend on the right and Chadli on the left were seeing plenty of the ball, but their crosses were being blocked from reaching their targets.  Spurs were having trouble initially clearing QPR's attacks, with the ball humped hopefully into the penalty area and it paid off, as they created chances with their crude tactics.  Dier cleared one ball with his head, but it dropped for Phillips to the left of the box of the D, but his swing at the ball missed completely.  Vertonghen had a similar mishap when he took the ball out of defence and exchanged passes with Kane on the left side, but he was unable to control the ball as it ran out of play in the QPR area. 

Spurs received a reprieve when Rangers had a crack at goal in the 19th minute.  Kyle Walker had been successfully heading the ball back to Hugo Lloris for a few matches now, but this time, he left it short and Austin seized on it.  Just eight yards out, he tried to nudge the ball past Hugo as he came out, but the keeper got a palm to the ball and then reacted quickly to knock it away as the QPR forward went for the loose ball.  A couple of minutes later, Phillips exchanged passes with Austin and hit a shot that bumped into the ground and went wide.  Crosses were coming into the Spurs area without being cut out and were getting too far but luckily, Rangers strikers were not alert enough to get on the end of them and most ran through to Hugo.

When Spurs did clear crosses, they did not clear them to safety.  Sandro profited from such a clearance, driving in a shot that was easy for Lloris, but the Spurs keeper was thanking his woodwork a minute later, when Caulker knocked Dier out of the way, allowing the ball to run to Austin who stumbled past Vertonghen and smashed a shot at goal rather than looking to find the net.  The ball bounced down off the crossbar and out.  Rangers looked to take advantage of their pressure, but form a 32nd minute free-kick, Spurs broke away and Caulker fouled Kane as he threatened to break on goal.  Tottenham's free-kick was swung in from the right and with Nedum Onuoha and Rob Green closing on it near the penalty spot, Harry Kane put his head in first and glanced the ball past them into an unguarded net to put Tottenham 1-0 ahead.  Rio Ferdinand was most at fault, as he had started pulling Kane's shirt, but let it go and let his man go for a free header

Seven minutes before the break, QPR wanted one of many penalties, as Mauricio Isla broke into the box onto a forward pass and Lloris produced a star jump (a la Schmeichel) that worked as he saved the shot, but Isla went down from the challenge and writhed around like he had been shot for some time.  It was only after treatment that he was able to run again, when it looked as though he would never walk again.  Coming out of the ground after the game some QPR fans thought that this was a nailed on penalty, while they claimed that the Spurs players went down easy to win free-kicks.  Funny how you can watch the same game and see totally different things.

Austin's aggressive running was causing problems and Onuoha's long clearance found the former Swindon Town man chasing it down the right, getting a fierce shot away, but he had been shown wide by Dier, so the shot was from a tight angle, allowing Hugo to beat it out at his near post.   There was just enough time left for Kyle Walker to be played in by Kane and he looked to get a shot on goal.  The effort wasn't up to his normal standard in terms of power and it might well have been missing until it clipped Mason and forced Green to a reflex stop and he gratefully grabbed the loose ball before a Spurs man could get to it.

At half-time there was the most confusing array of entertainment.  Former full back Ian Gillard came out to wow the crowd with his monotonous answers to inane questions by the QPR media man and this prefaced kids running onto the pitch with balls and having to run the length of half the pitch before dribbling around cones and scoring in a mini goal.  Nice to see QPR are happy knackering the kids out before they get into a shooting position !!

This only added to the weirdness of how they operate during the game.  There are few ball-boys to keep play moving; there was a large black cat who was a mascot before the match, who took an age to go up a flight of stairs in the QPR home end before disappearing (through a big cat flap ?) and then there were the four hardest working stewards in the Premier League, who ran out of the Loftus Road end to crouch in front of their end of the Ellerslie Road stand and then run back to their starting position without actually doing anything.  Entertaining, but weird !!

The second half started with Spurs on the front foot.  Within a couple of minutes of the restart, a Davies long throw was headed out by Caulker to Bentaleb and he held off a challenge to lay it back to Eriksen, who crashed a bending shot past Green and off the post far from the left hand side of the D.  Kane was onto the rebound, but could not get his shot on target, but was offside anyway.  A couple of minutes later, Caulker played a pass straight to Andros Townsend and the Spurs winger looked to slip as he hit his shot that went too high.  After Wednesday night's scare, I wondered if these missed chances would come back to bite us.  Especially when Eriksen drove a low cross shot along the six yard line, with Chadli too far away from it, after starting the move with Kane. 

With 57 minutes on the clock, Green played a long free-kick forward and in the jump for the ball, Zamora threw an arm into Dier's face and the ball fell kindly for the QPR captain, who thumped it at goal, with Hugo keeping it out with a push over the bar with another good save at his near post.  When the corner was cleared, it led to a Spurs break that should have brought the second goal.  Harry played a ball wide right for Walker to run onto and he looked as though he was going to hit it first time, but delayed it, running it a little too close in and doing so, Green got something on it, but pushed the ball out in front of him, to where Christian Eriksen was.  He picked out a low shot back at goal and it looked as if it would go in, but Austin was back and slid across to stop the ball reaching the goal.

A bad foul by Karl Henry (now there's a surprise) right in front of the dug-outs sparked a melee with Mason (the fouled) having to be pulled away from Henry and Zamora, who were both called to the ref, but only Henry booked.  Strange that Zamora has left Kyle Walker bloodied after this and still didn't make his way into the referee's book and that Henry continued to foul without further punishment, but Bentaleb's foul on Henry brought a yellow card for his first tackle.  Mason also went into the book for fouling Henry.  There followed a five minute spell when Rangers pushed on the Tottenham defence, but they stood firm and cleared crosses and Pocehttino brought on Dembele for Townsend.  The Belgian was hauled down by Henry (told you) and from thirty yards, Eriksen tried his luck, but his free-kick went wide. 

In the 68th minute, Spurs finally got their second goal and it was well-made.  Ryan Mason picked up the ball on the halfway line and chipped a pass over the QPR back line.  Nacer Chadli looked offside, but Harry Kane ran through, shooing the Belgian out of the way, as he took the ball through one-on-one with Green.  By using Chadli as an option to pass to on his right, he shaped to do so, fooling Green, who he then went round to the left and slid his shot into an empty net.  Both players might have been onside, as Rio Ferdinand stepped up so late, that they might have both been the right side of him when the ball was played.

Seven minutes later, QPR were back in the game from an unlikely source.  Austin went wide on the QPR right and played a ball across the box,  Zamora held off Dier and laid it back to Sandro running in on the edge of the box and he side-footed low inside Hugo's left hand post to bring the score back to 2-1.

The goal sparked an automatic reply from Spurs, who worked the ball to Eriksen who shot low at goal from the right side of the box and Green dived the other way to smother it.  Tottenham went back to not clearing the ball effectively, leaving free-kicks and crosses to rain in.  Hoilett shot over from 12 yards out, Dier blocked Austin's effort and the team worked hard to keep out the home team and also to run down the clock, making the final whistle a joyous moment, bringing the result the side deserved.

QPR felt hard done by, especially with a late scramble in the box that saw Austin shoot at goal and the ball appeared to hit Bentaleb's arm, but it was very close in and might have been a harsh award.  The difference in the two teams was composure in the box.  Whereas QPR were all bash and crash, two moments of cool headedness brought Kane a Man of the Match performance and another two goals that earned the win.

Spurs played as a unit, with each part of the team functioning well.  There were still some nervy moments, which need to be ironed out, but the speed on the break in supporting Kane was impressive and the amount of possession for an away team was huge (almost 63%).  Rangers looked poor and will do well to get even close to surviving in this League.  The chant of "It's Time to retire, Rio Ferdinand, It's Time to retire" had a ring of authenticity about it.  Maybe he will Twitter his response ... but hopefully not like Carlton Cole !!

The overall lack of quality in the QPR squad is what is letting it down.  Promising players who have not developed into the players the club thought they would be, coupled with some who should never have been bought in the first place, combine to leave the club in a mess.  Ramsey is a decent coach and he will need to work a minor miracle to stave off relegation, but buys from the previous manager have left him with little choice and maybe that was why there were two Academy graduates on the bench today. 

The Spurs fans were great again today, constantly out-singing their Rangers counterparts, but the team performed the same on the pitch and the sunshine made it a great day out.  Another away day win and up into fifth place.  We need to push on for the final eleven matches now.

Burton Coggles

A mature performance in the face of some feisty QPR play, which not all was within the laws of the game, but the control Tottenham exercised was pleasing to see and also that the players we sold to them brought in money and didn't let the good ones slip away.  Sandro scored, but didn't do much else, while Caulker was a shadow of the player who promised so much at the Lane.
 

Can't imagine many other players doing that.