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A game in which not a lot had gone right for Tottenham in the first 75
minutes, turned on it's head with a quarter of an hour of attacking
promise that was realised with some assistance from a ragged
Wolverhampton Wanderers back-line, ending in a 3-1 win for Spurs.
Tottenham had a great deal of the first half
in terms of possession and chances, but failed to make the most of them,
in what was rapidly becoming a replay of last season's home game with
Wolverhampton. A good start was what Harry was after and from the
kick off when Rafael van der Vaart, on his home debut, hit a cross that
found Gareth Bale, the ball just failed to find Peter Crouch with the
knock down. .
In fact van der Vaart was very involved
in the early stages, forcing Hahnemann into a hurried kick out as he
closed him down and then put in a dangerous cross for the right wing
that Robbie Keane could only head up into the air. There
were shouts for a penalty from the Old Gold section in the 10th minute
when Matt Jarvis outpaced Benoit Assou-Ekotto on the right side of our
defence and then pulled the ball back as William Gallas, another home
debutant, slid in and the player fell over him. Referee Mike Jones
was unimpressed, although they are the sort of incidents you sometimes
see given.
Spurs were using the pace of Bale against
Foley on the left wing and after King's ball up to Crouch's head found
Keane, his shot was blocked, but then the Welshman came into his own.
One low cross didn't fall right for Keane in the heart of the penalty
area, then Foley finally lost patience with being given the run-around
and fouled Gareth to earn a booking, before Bale was back defending to
head out a free-kick from Jarvis.
Jenas, who was having a good game,
winning tackles and using the ball well, picked out a pass to the left
wing inside the full back and Bale brought Hahnemann out to block his
shot, but the ball fell to Keane, who swivelled to shoot at goal, only
to see that Foley had got back and thrown his body in front of the
Irishman to divert the ball away from goal. A similar move ended
with Bale putting a cross that was too high for Crouch to reach and then
his presence caused a panic amongst the Wolves back four on the half
hour. BAE's ball into him was headed up in the air by Craddock and
as it dropped van der Vaart, who showed great skill in taking the ball
down with one touch and hitting a powerful volley with his second to
force Hahnemann to throw up a hand to keep it out with a good save.
Hahnemann was soon at it again, when
three minutes again, when Rafael fed Bale and his cross was perfect for
Crouch to rise and head towards the top left corner of the American's
goal, but he reached up to tip the ball over the bar with a very good
stretching save. Another repeat of the move saw Crouch try to
set-up Keane with a header down, but the ball didn't find it's intended
target and then Bale made Hahnemann save from a free-kick, but it wasn't
too difficult for the Wanderers goalie.
Six minutes before the break, Bale got
away on the left once more (Is this getting boring ? Ed. : - No !),
providing a cross for Keane's head, but although he had a clear header,
he directed it too far wide of the goal and too far in front of Crouch,
who was moving into the far post area. Then right on half-time,
Spurs went behind. Kaboul, who had a shot saved low at the post a
minute or so earlier, was visibly troubled by a leg problem, causing him
to limp and when Foley was freed from his shackles of Bale's forays
forward, he got to the line, pulled a low ball across the face of the
six yard box and Cudicini failed to get out to it, Fletcher had run
beyond Younes (who had been playing him onside) and then pulled out to
tuck the ball away from a couple of yards out. It was simple goal
that Spurs had been suckered into and the cross should have been closed
down at source, while Cudicini might have done better to stop it getting
past the near post too.
Alan Hutton replaced Kaboul straight
after the goal and although there was time for Bale to hit a shot from
ten yards outside the box, it went wide of the mark and half-time
brought some murmurings from the Tottenham fans, who were still to see a
home goal scored this season.
Spurs started the second half as they had
started the first, with Jenas making a burst forward, only to be stopped
by a Craddock tackle, then Alan Hutton cut in from wide right and curled
a left foot shot that Keane jumped over and missed the far post by
inches with Hanhemann rooted to the spot. Meanwhile substitute
Jelle van Damme came on for Jarvis, which blunted some of Wolves'
attacking intent, but the sub struck a shot that flew over the top from
long range.
In the 57th minute, Ledley King stepped
forward from defence and played in van der Vaart, who curled a shot just
wide of Hahnemann's right hand post and then Keane threw himself at a
Bale cross to scissor-kick the ball equally as close to goal, but the
effort appeared to fly off his shin rather than the laces of his boot.
A number of changes around the hour mark saw Pav come on for Keano, who
had missed a number of chances that dropped to him and then Rafael got
booked for a bit of a naughty tackle on van Damme, who in turn got a
yellow card for clattering Cudicini later on.
Spurs were racking up the corner count
and Bale put one in that was cleared out and Tom Huddlestone hit a shot
that was blocked away to Bale again and his cross in picked out King,
but he couldn't get a good connection on the ball to take it towards
goal. Then the final 15 minutes (plus time added on for stoppages)
began !!
A Wolves move broke down and Alan Hutton
picked up the ball about 20 yards inside his own half. He ran into
the space in front of him and making a Ricky Villa run towards the
Wolves penalty area, he nudged the ball past Ward to get to the
dead-ball line, only for the defender to slide in and upend him leaving
the referee no option than to point at the spot. Grabbing the
ball, van der Vaart picked up the ball and put it on the spot, stepping
up confidently to stroke the ball to the keeper's right as he dived left
to make it 1-1.
While it was an obvious penalty, it had
been that sort of game that if the referee had waved play on, you might
not have been surprised, but it spurred Tottenham on. Hud shot
straight at Hanhemann after Bale had crossed for the big midfielder to
have a go at goal, with a break at the other end almost seeing Kevin
Doyle, who had been relatively quiet, get on the end of Ward's cross at
the near post. Jenas linked well with van der Vaart, providing the
Dutchman with a shooting opportunity in the 82nd minute, but he just
dragged it wide of goal. Once more play switched to the other end
and Crouch did well to get in the way of van Damme's shot, with
Tottenham's response to be to take Rafael off to great cheers and bring
on Aaron Lennon for the last five minutes (plus time added on for
stoppages).
The referee aided Spurs, when a little
passing phase for Wolves ended with one of their players bumping into
the ref and the ball falling kindly for Huddlestone, who passed wide
tight to Lennon, who then exchanged passes with him again. The
winger headed for the line and pulled back a high cross into the middle
of the box, which was cleared, but only to Hud, who hit a half-volley.
His effort hit Karl Henry and dropped in front of Roman, who calmly
picked a spot wide of Hanhemann to side-foot the ball into net and
Tottenham into the lead. Pav obviously enjoyed his goal, as he
stripped off his shirt, ran over to the corner flag, planted his shirt
on it and pulled the flag out of the ground to wave it around like a
flag !! Referee Jones was not so impressed and produced a yellow
card for the Russian, but also gave one to the visitors' keeper, who was
guilty of dissent.
As the game entered added time, Alan
Hutton once more went on a run from the halfway line. This time,
he cut infield and toe-poked a pass towards Peter Crouch from the edge
of the box. However, Crouch had made a move wide and the ball was
heading towards two Wolves defenders. One of whom was Stearman,
who was beseeching the keeper to come for the ball, but Hahnemann was on
his line. As he came for it, Hutton had continued his run and
Stearman feared he would nip in, so he cleared the ball, but only
succeeded in finding the frame of Hutton right in front of him and the
ball looped off the Scots full-back and went high over the advancing
Hanhemann, dropping into the net behind him to hand Alan his first
Tottenham goal. It wrapped up an unlikely, if not undeserved 3-1
win.
For all Mick McCarthy's bluster about the
team playing some good football, he might be internally seething that
his side were not as physical as they had been played up to be in recent
weeks. A return of three yellow cards and no points, isn't what he
is used to from his Wolves teams.
For Spurs, there was some justice in
their belief in playing their own game and persisting with their
attacking game, with the use of Bale instrumental, but van der Vaart
showed what a difference he made to the team. Jenas did well
alongside him and Hutton was a revelation with his runs from deep on the
right. Lennon also made the most of his cameo and showed a bit of
the form he displayed last season.
Three points, three goals and a glimmer
of the style that might take the team forward. With Arsenal on
Tuesday and West Ham on Saturday, we will soon find out how it fares in
the hustle-bustle of the London derbies.
paul lewis |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers
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