A bruising encounter with a mainly
anonymous Leicester side saw Tottenham win 2-1, but this did not really
reflect the balance of play on the night.
A large crowd braved the chilly
conditions at Broadhall Way to see Clive Allen's young side take on a
Foxes team devoid of many known names. Scot Gemmill was there, but
he was about the only player who might easily be recognised. The
mixture of youngsters and a couple of older players tried in vain to
stem the Tottenham attacks and sometimes resorted to foul play to do so,
with the referee of this game missing a large portion of the offences
committed too.
With international call-ups denuding the
Spurs team of quite a few faces, the line-up featured a number of
players who have made fleeting appearances. O'Donoghue, back from
his loan at Hornchurch, captained the side in Richards' absence and
Kieran McKenna came into midfield to replace the Irish Under-21
midfielder Mark Yeates.
In the first minute, Lee Barnard pulled a
pass back to Mounir El Hamdaoui, whose shot was deflected wide of the
target by a Leicester foot and from the corner Marcel McKie fired in a
shot that had the sting taken out of it by a half block. This was
a signal of intent for the rest of the game, with attack after attack
raining in on the young Leicester defence. Rodrigo Defendi
attacked another corner and his shot pole-axed Barnard by hitting him in
the midriff !!
Leicester's first attack came from a
free-kick which was played into the near post and after a scramble, Eyre
flopped on the ball to quell any danger. Wright was a threat in
the air all night and he got to a right wing cross ahead of Eyre, but
could only head the ball over the bar. At the other end, Barney's
first time cross from the right was picked off the toe of Mounir, as the
new striker moved in.
The game got a bit bogged down in
midfield and there were few chances for ten minutes, in which time
O'Donoghue and Defendi both had to be treated for head injuries.
When Spurs started to move forward again, El Hamdaoui got in ahead of
the keeper to a cross, but his header went over the top on 32
minutes. Three minutes later, Tottenham took the lead when Phil
Ifil played a long ball down the right hand side of the penalty area and
it was chased by Lee Barnard. This pressure caused the defender to
leave the ball for the keeper; the keeper to leave the ball for the
defender and for David Limbersky to nip in between them to get a toe to
the ball, lifting it over the goalie and into the net to put Tottenham
1-0 up.
The first of a few bookings for visiting
players arrived in the 38th minute, as Wright was cautioned for
unceremoniously whipping Limbersky's lags from under him. Many
challenges that brought paint o Spurs players were missed by the match
officials, much to the disgust of Clive Allen, who got involved in a
contretemps with the Leicester coach in the second half, with only the
boyish fourth official between them. Four minutes before the
break, City nearly equalised, when a corner was pulled back to the edge
of the box and a header fell to Stearman, who half-hit a volley,
allowing Eyre to stop the ball on the line, whereas a full contact would
have scored. There was still time for Spurs to break into the
Leicester box, when a low ball in from the left saw El Hamdaoui try to
hit a shot with the outside of his foot, miscue and the ball ran to
Ricketts on the right. His shot was drilled in, but flew across
the face of the goal. He tried to perform many of his party
pieces, but failed to make a dramatic impact on the game.
The second half saw Spurs start in the
same vein as the first. Barnard firing in a 25 yard shot and then
Hallfredsson, who had a confident game, cut in from the right to hit a
left foot shot a foot over the bar. A neat bit of passing opened
up the Leicester defence and Defendi put a ball down the left, where
Barnard took his shot early, but he could not get it on target.
With 56 minutes gone, Spurs produced a
flowing passing move from left to right, through Ricketts and McKenna,
who put in a low ball from the right to El Hamdaoui. The young
forward teed himself up for a shot and it was pulled across the
goal. The new signing was not happy six minutes later, when
Stearman studded him down the shin and he continued to moan at the ref,
who booked him for his troubles. Shortly after Leicester were
awarded a free-kick on the edge of the area and it was taken quickly to
free Canero ten yards out. He hit his shot, that Eyre did
extremely well to block and O'Grady got to the rebound and Ifil came to
the rescue with a clearance on the goal-line to deny the Foxes and
equaliser. In an incident off the ball, Muggleton knocked over
O'Donoghue and got a yellow card.
Barnard was lively all night and proved a
handful for the Leicester defence, who were not always scrupulous in
their efforts to tame him. He fired a volley over at the far post
on the left and then had a header into the far post side netting on the
other side. Canero was enraged throughout the second half and was
booked for throwing the ball away in the 74th minute and Spurs were
denied a penalty when Hallfredsson was pulled down in the area and the
ref gave a free-kick to Leicester for a handball !! He also missed
a foul on El Hamdaoui, which wound up Limbersky who raced back to foul
Weslowski to see yellow.
In amongst all the ugly stuff, Mounir
made a chance for Ricketts on the right, but his low shot was blocked by
the goalkeeper's legs. Ricketts then scooped a ball over a
defender's head and volleyed a cross into the area, without anyone on
the end of it.
The second Spurs goal came on 82 minutes,
with El Hamdaoui getting his just desserts. Ifil played a ball
across the pitch from the right wing and Mounir side-stepped Stearman
leaving him clear on goal on the left side of the box. Faced with
the keeper, he struck a fierce shot that left the goalie without a
chance to save, as the ball rose into the top right hand corner of the
net. Stearman had tried to kick the Spurs striker on his way to
goal and got a card to add to the visitors' collection.
Canero had been losing it and when he
went down the line and was robbed of the ball, he scythed down McKie and
got his second yellow plus a red in the 85th minute. Two minutes
later, El Hamdaoui was twice denied by the keeper with good shots, but
when the play switched to the other end, O'Grady got a shot in from the
right hand side of the penalty area that snuck home at Eyre's near post
to pull an undeserved goal back. Spurs nearly restored the
two goal lead when Ricketts pulled a ball back to the Moroccan, who hit
a shot that was saved, when Hallfredsson was better placed behind him to
score.
It was a professional performance by
Spurs against a tough Leicester side and despite the final score-line,
they were well worth more goals on the night, when Barnard and El
Hamdaoui lead the line superbly. A good all-round performance that
takes them on to Charlton for their next game when a number of players
will be fit again or returned to the team.
MEHSTG TOP MAN : - MOUNIR EL
HAMDAOUI
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