| A confident Spurs weathered a
first half storm to send the Canaries back to their perch without an
addition to their Christmas points total, while the trek back to London
was made more Merry by the warmth of a fifth consecutive win under the
belt.
The game started without Jermain Defoe,
hat-trick hero of the last Spurs outing, but the return of Naybet and
Edman strengthened the back four. It looked as though they would
have a busy return to action in the first half, with Norwich seemingly
intent on attacking the Tottenham goal at every possible occasion.
Spurs had pushed Atouba up into a
midfield position to accommodate Edman, which allowed Thim to get
forward and knock in some dangerous crosses, but unfortunately, there
was never anyone on the edge of them. Norwich were also forced to
make some changes, but theirs were during the first period, when they
lost Charlton early on and later when old boy Paul McVeigh replaced the
injured Jonson five minutes before half-time.
By then, Norwich could have been two
up. A tenth minute move involved Huckerby setting up Bentley, who
struck a 20 yard shot that left Robinson standing and the Spurs keeper
was relieved to see the ball bounce back off the goalpost. Then
Edworthy joined the attack to strike a short corner into the box, but
Pedro Mendes got something on the ball that took it spinning wildly over
the bar of the Spurs goal. Robinson watched a Jonson effort fly
over, but had to be sharp to keep out another shot from the on loan
Gooner Bentley.
With just over a quarter of an hour gone,
Spurs finally threatened the Norwich goal, when Mendes put Keane in, but
he stepped over the ball, leaving it to run to Kanoute, but he pulled
his low shot a yard wide of Green's goal. Two minutes later,
Tottenham were saved by Mendes' header that kept Doherty's header from
Huckerby's free-kick out of the net. Then in a replay of the
incident, but at the other end, Pamarot rose to head Carrick's
free-kick, but the ball floated wide.
Norwich were using the pace of Huckerby
and trying to get him matched up with Naybet, but often, he found
Pamarot or Edman as the ones who he had to beat and did not manage to
get away from them as easily. Tottenham's best
opportunity of the half came when Doherty and Fleming hashed a
clearance, leaving a high ball that Fredi won, but he failed to
recognise that Robbie was best placed to score and then the opening was
closed down. It was good to see Carrick pushing forward and be
wiling to shoot, as he hit a 37th minute drive at the keeper, just after
Keano had hit a shot over the top. Just before half-time, Spurs
got out of jail when King tried to let the ball run back to Robbo, but
McKenzie got in first and poked the ball over the Spurs keeper and
towards the goal. Only the quick thinking of Naybet managed to get
to the ball before it slowly ran over the goal-line.
It proved to be a turning point, with
Norwich deserving to be in the lead, but failing to take the openings
that came their way. This was also true of the second half, but in
a reversal of fortunes, Spurs dominated possession and made it
tell. McKenzie's header from Huckerby's corner was athletically
touched onto the bar by Robinson in the 53rd minute and then Spurs broke
away to the other end, but Kanoute could not reach Keane's pass that ran
through to the keeper.
Spurs were now knocking the ball about
confidently, with Atouba and Kanoute firing in shots that didn't trouble
Green, but this was a precursor of things to come. Just after the
hour, Mendes hit a volley from Keane's flick and Green was sharply down
at his post to concede a corner. Atouba had taken a bit of a
battering and finally was replaced by Ziegler in the 66th minute and the
young Swiss midfielder struck a fine shot that went wide shortly after
his introduction to the action.
Edman proved a vital return to the team,
when he denied Huckerby an opening as he thought about shooting and from
Robinson's clearance, Kanoute played in Mendes, who shot too high.
It was end to end stuff now and it was a slight concern that Spurs had
not made the most of the possession they had during the second
half. All that was water under the bridge after Jermain Defoe came
on for Kanoute. This was a bit of a surprise, as Robbie looked the
lesser of the two strikers on the day, but it shows what we know,
because form Ziegler's corner, Drury made a mess of clearing it and
Keane was standing ten yards out in a central position to slam the ball
low past Green.
It was all Spurs deserved in the second
half, as they took control and within four minutes, the lethal finishing
of the white-shirted players put them 2-0 ahead. Pamarot played
the ball into Michael Brown and he exchanged passes with Robbie
Keane. Taking the ball on a couple of strides, Brown smashed a
curling drive past the Norwich goalie into the top corner. It was
a fine finish and one that Brown has deserved for his efforts over the
last couple of weeks.
As the home side pushed forward to get
something back, McKenzie failed to hit the target with a free header,
Defoe was defied by Green's legs at the other end, Helveg hit a 25 yard
drive that Robinson had to grab at the second attempt and then the
keeper got to Fleming's knock down before the Dane in the six yard
box. As time ticked down, another old boy, Gary Doherty was on the
end of a corner to nod a header wide of the mark and then came the final
whistle that gave Spurs a record equalling fifth straight win in the
Premiership.
Martin Jol has produced a winning run
that has taken Spurs up the table, so that come the end of the year, we
are in the top half. Now comes the difficult bit and the aim will
have to be to push up further from there ! But, with this squad
and the coach in place, it might just be a possibility you know !!
MEHSTG TOP MAN : - MICHAEL BROWN
|
Norwich City
(Away)
