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The first sight of Bobby Zamora in a Spurs
shirt was one that will leave a mark in the memory. His first
touch was a mis-control, his second a foul for shirt-pulling, but two
other touches in the 45 minutes he played showed real promise.
The first was capitalising on Gus Poyet's
dribble. When the ball got away from him slightly, Bobby swept the
ball past Cox in the Oxford goal before Poyet had a chance to do
anything with it. His second was the sort of goal we have been
waiting for someone to score. After Etherington had been put away
down the left, his low cross evaded the diving keeper and a defender at
the near post and popped up off Zamora's leg to take the ball past both
of them. All that was left was for him to slam it into an empty
net. A real poacher's goal.
In truth, this match was as one
sided as you might wish to see. Oxford tried hard, but rarely
troubled young Burch in the Tottenham goal, merely forcing him to grasp
a low header here and field a bobbling shot there. Possibly his
most anxious moment came in the second half, when, at full stretch, he
held a fiery drive from James Hunt, who took good corners, but could not
steer his side to victory.
The pace of Etherington and Zamora began
troubling the home defence early on, but Matty was denied by the keeper
and put another shot side, while our newest signing forced Cox to save
with his legs when put away in the 11th minute. He also landed a
lob just wide, when he beat a defender and just got a foot to the
ball. After a quarter of an hour, Spurs came the closest to a
goal, with Poyet getting the ball stuck under his feet from a corner and
setting up Johnnie Jackson instead. The young wing back's drive
was stopped low on the line by a defender. Poyet did manage a shot
a minute later, after playing a one-two with Zamora, but his effort
ended up wide.
Then came Zamora's first goal in the 22nd
minute, with a run down the right wing following that, which produced a
low cross into the box. Jackson stepped over it, but Matty was
beaten to the ball by a defender. He looked on the back foot for
much of the match and despite having the legs on the Oxford defenders,
he often chose to turn back when it looked like he could go on past his
man. Anderton was spraying the ball about nicely and his corner on
the half hour found Gus at the far post, but his stretching volley went
wide of the goal.
The two best chances for the U's in the
first half came from Alsop's head. He is a giant of a striker and
managed to get his head around a ball that seemed to be behind him, but
could not keep it from rising over the top and another he did get over,
but Burch fell on the ball to save on the six-yard line. Hackett
went on a long run, with his pace embarrassing Perry, but his cross was
to nobody in particular.
Cox made a good save when a corner was
cleared to Blondel, who had a fine game. The little Belgian hit a
fierce drive that the keeper did well to keep out, but he was helpless
when Zamora pulled a left wing cross back to Poyet on the edge of the
area and the Uruguayan hit a screaming volley that flew inches over the
bar. Zamora sealed a very good display in the first half with his
second just before the half-time whistle and his movement and
willingness to work back were a joy to see.
In the second half, he did not re-appear,
as Robbie Keane took his place and Carr came on for the solid, and not
shy to go forward, Mark Hughes. It was more of a subdued 45
minutes, with Oxford having the first chance, when they fired a
free-kick over the bar from 20 yards and Brown shot over a few minutes
later. Poyet had the same result when he flicked the ball up to
have a shot and he linked well with Carr down the right, to set up Keane
to have a hard shot kept out by the goalie. However, Cox didn't
stand a chance in the 64th minute, when Keano did score. Fed
through the middle by Anderton, he drew no back-lift and rammed home the
ball from 15 yards out, leaving everyone gasping at the ferocity of his
effort.
As the rest of the game was punctuated
with substitutions, it lost any flow it might have had. Spurs had
a panicky moment, when the blowy wind kept the defenders in their own
penalty area, with the ball being sliced up into the air and finally
over the top of their own goal. A neat move going forward in the
70th minute saw Jackson put in a teasing cross that Poyet got to at the
far post. His volley was again on the stretch, but he managed to
pull it across goal, where Robbie Keane just failed to get on the end of
it. Jackson was taken off shortly after this and had done well
down the left. His recent comments about looking after himself
during the summer were obviously true, as he looks fit and determined to
make an impression this season.
Carr flicked at a Galbraith cross and his
shot went wide at the far post and Keane and Yeates played a neat
passing movement to engineer some space in the box. The younger
Irishman was denied a shooting opportunity by Cox diving at his feet.
There was a surprisingly rousing ovation
for the entry of United sub. Jamie Brooks, which puzzled all Spurs fans,
but the lady sitting next to me explained that he had been out since
April 2002 with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. This is a particularly
virulent disease that leaves the sufferer almost paralysed and was what
Marcus Babbel of Liverpool suffered with a couple of years back.
To recover and be playing football after such a short period of time is
remarkable and we wish him well in the future.
Spurs were calmly in control for the
whole match and never looked like losing. I was told this was a
better game than yesterday's and the passing was assured and
accurate. Solid defending and energy in midfield from Blondel
(carrying a bandaged hand from being landed on in the first half) made
Oxford's progress difficult. A useful work-out with other squad
members getting a game, who had missed out previously. But where
was Dean Richards, who's absence has been obvious in these matches
?
There was an unsavoury incident with
Spurs fans with a flag in the Oxford end being escorted out and set upon
by home fans as they reached the bottom of the gangway. This
precipitated some intent on a fight coming out of the Spurs seating to
confront the stewards and Oxford supporters. It was all very
unnecessary and in this day and age, a friendly against Oxford United is
no place for such tribal aggression to be displayed. What would
U's fan Desmond Morris make of it ?? I suspect he would make
monkeys out of them !!
MEHSTG TOP MAN : - BOBBY ZAMORA |
OXFORD
UNITED (Away)
