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Strange feeling turning up for this first
game of the new season. Not because it was still July, but the
rush to get to the ground, the trouble finding parking and the delayed
kick off all seemed to put a dampener on it. Even more so than the
earlier storm that had soaked the pitch, making it a greasy topped
surface for their first action after the La Manga training camp.
Taking the field in their light blue
strip, Spurs looked striking and it only took two minutes before they
created their first chance. A neat one-two between Acimovic and
Redknapp ended with Jamie knocking his shot past the keeper's left hand,
but seeing it bounce out of the inside of the post. The keeper
looked familiar and I was at a loss as to hwy Rob Burch was playing in
goal for Stevenage. I am still not sure why he was between their
sticks. There was little of note
from the home side in the early exchanges apart from Carroll trying to
inscribe Anthony Gardner's shins with his studs. Ziege looked as
fit as his proclamations had predicted and he was lively throughout the
first half, with a shot over the bar, a quick free-kick on target
without power and Redknapp got onto the end one of his through balls,
which saw him through on the keeper. However, the midfielder
dragged his shot across goal and a foot wide of the far
post. It was Bunjecevic
who helped shape the game, by producing a defence splitting low pass
through the middle to Acimovic. One on one with Burch and shaking
off his marker, Milenko took the ball on and slipped it into the net to
the keeper's left in the19th minute. Stevenage
had their best moment shortly after the goal, when they broke on the
right and a low cross was met by a forward, but it lacked pace to beat
Sullivan, who looked leaner and more lithe than when he returned from
injury last season in the reserves. He had to be alert to stop and
Elding (who the home fans humorously call "Eldinho")
shot. However, Acimovic almost added to his goal, when a 24th
minute Ziege corner was fired in and the Slovenian met it with his head
at the near post. Unfortunately, it had a little too much height
and it glanced off the bar and over. It was nearer than Redknapp
came from another corner from the German. Playing it to the edge
of the box, the captain hit the ball on the volley with great power, but
no great accuracy ... the ball almost reaching Ziege again !! It
was Christian who finished the half with the last bit of action.
As he seized on a poor back pass from Holloway, he tried to bend the
ball past Burch, but the keeper managed to get a hand on it and deflect
it out for a corner. Hoddle ran
through some aspects of the game with the retiring first half side as
they warmed down and the second half side came out to warm up. Taricco
took the armband and hardly set a shining example to his team-mates, as
he unsportingly threw the ball away after a free kick had been awarded
against him. He got a ticking off, but by then Spurs were two
ahead. Five minutes into the half,
the ball was worked out to the left, where Johnnie Jackson put in a
first time low, pacy cross and racing into the six yard box was Helder
Postiga to dive in with a defender to get to the ball first and knock it
in for his first Tottenham goal. It was the sort of goal that
Spurs fans have been looking for a forward to score for a long time and
we hope it is the first of many. Ten minutes later, he showed his
goalpost geographical knowledge to fire in a first time shot just wide,
after Poyet had set him up from the right wing. Stevenage
came into the game a bit more in the second half, with the speedy
Baptiste and Watson breaking forward from midfield, but there was little
to trouble Sully apart from a free-kick that spat up at him from the wet
turf. He was alert to tip a late shot from Baptiste over the bar
and from the resulting corner, Taricco nearly sliced into his own goal. Gus
had a double effort in the 72nd minute, with the first blocked and the
second way over the top, then it was on to the last ten minutes before
Spurs seriously threatened again. Jackson played in Toda to drive
wide of the goal and in the final minute a neat one-two between Poyet
and Davies inside the area set up a volleyed chance for Simon.
Unfortunately, even though he was only two yards out, the delicately
flicked pass from the Uruguayan was scuffed and bumbled wide of the
net. The game was played at
half pace by Spurs and although Borough put in a lot of effort and
passion, they were not in the same class. The ball was passed well
by Spurs and not given away too often. They held a good shape and
didn't look in too much trouble at any stage, while managing to produce
a few chances. A "loosener"
for the pre-season, with a gentle build up to the new season and Hoddle
would have been grateful that Postiga is off the mark and that the team
seem to be fit and playing a nice game.
MEHSTG TOP MAN : - CHRISTIAN ZIEGE |
STEVENAGE
BOROUGH (Away)