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After last week's sell-out
at Broadhall Way, the few hardy fans gathered to witness the last home
reserve game of the season's league programme. Forest were the
visitors and the game was a well contested one, which only the crossbar
and a late Marlon King equaliser stopped Spurs from winning.
The Director's box was
packed with famous faces. David Pleat watched the players who might
be included down at SCBC on Saturday, accompanied by Chris Hughton, Hans
Segers, Kunle Odetoyinbo, Jimmy Neighbour and Pat Jennings. Another
old Spur sat not far away, but Joe Kinnear was casting an eye over players
who might make their way from Forest's reserves into the manager's first
XI. Perhaps the most unlikely face in the reserved section was that
of Tony Adams, but perhaps he was either a week late to watch his beloved
Gooners or had come to see how Wycombe should be playing !! The
game was played in conditions that got colder as the evening went on and
the Spurs team made a hot start. Seven minutes in and a ball up to
Mark Yeates on the halfway line saw the young Irishman flick the ball
on. Helder Postiga, getting a run out, stole a march on the Forest
defender running back for the ball and the Portuguese striker out-muscled
him to take the ball into the area. As the keeper advanced, Postiga
chipped it over him delicately, but the ball bounced off the bar and away
from danger. Postiga
looked detached from the pace of the game, but was a pivotal player in the
early stages. Rohan Ricketts played a ball into him on the edge of
the area and he stood it up for RR to take the return on the volley, but
drive it a couple of yards wide. The return of Jamie Redknapp to the
midfield added some poise, but he lost his cool twice in quick succession,
clearly informing the referee where he could go !! When he made a
gentle foul on the Forest number four in the next phase of play, the
referee decided that was enough of a reason to book him ... maybe to make
up for the two incidents of dissent he let him get away with just prior to
that. Postiga
was producing a classic forward's performance, with seemingly little
interest ion the game until the ball reached him in the box. A 35th
minute cross by Johnnie Jackson was met by Postiga's head and the ball
crashed back off the bar (again). From the rebound, Forest launched
themselves forward and Phil Ifil, who had a very good first half, chased
back from the halfway line to rob Doig as he made the penalty area, with
two other red shirts in support and no other Spurs defender around.
The visitors had another chance almost straight away, when Westcarr turned
inside Mabizela to fire a shot over the top. Mabizela played very
well, getting in some crunching tackles and using the ball very
well. I hope he gets a proper go in the first team before the end of
the season. Just as
Forest were getting in the game, Tottenham hit them with a 43rd minute
goal. Mark Yeates and Ricketts had shots beaten out, before the ball
was fed wide right to Ifil. The young right back bent a great cross
in to the six yard box and Helder Postiga popped up at the far post to
knock the ball in from close range to give Spurs a 1-0 half-time lead. Spurs
had moved the ball around well and pushed Forest back up until the
break. The substitution of McKie with Jamie O'Hara coming on in his
place saw Jackson drop back to left back and O'Hara slip into JJ's
midfield position. Four minutes into the half, Jamie almost made an
instant impact, with a run from halfway and a rasping 25-yarder that the
keeper did really well to keep out of the top left hand of his goal. Rohan
hit a low 18 yard shot in the 51st minute, but it was an easy save for
Formann. However, what happened next almost gave Pat Holland's side
the lead. The keeper threw the ball out to a defender, who passed
back to him in the centre of the six yard box. As Formann tried to
control the ball, it popped up and he had to hurriedly volley the ball out
from the goal-line as it almost went past him at waist height !! The
referee did not help the flow of the game, as his whistle was far too
evident and Eugene Bopp picked up a booking for a rather innocuous
tackle. Ifil almost cost Tottenham a goal, when a dangerous low
cross went across the face of the Spurs goal and he tried to dribble it
out of the box, but was robbed by Gardner. The Forest wide man cut
inside and hit a shot that Hirschfeld had to produce a good save to keep
out and OJ cleared from in front of the goal. Another defensive
mix-up, this time at the Tottenham end almost let Forest in, as Jackson
headed a ball past the Canadian keeper as he came out, but luckily, the
ball passed wide of the goal. The
game went quickly to the opposite end and Yeates played a 1-2 with
Ricketts and then hit a shot that went into the side-netting. After
66 minutes, Tottenham again threatened, with another good piece of play
between Yeates and Postiga, with Yeates getting on the end of a silky
return pass to be denied by a fine tackle from Doig as Yeates shaped to
finish it off. Two minutes later, Yeates went even closer.
O'Hara played the ball from the left wing inside to the Irish livewire,
who looked up, curled a shot over the top of a defender and as the ball
was heading for the far top corner of the net, the keeper once again got a
touch to it, diverting it onto the bar (again). It
proved the turning point of the match. In the 78th minute, Westcarr
did well on the Forest left wing and crossed for Marlon King to get a
header onto the ball from five yards out to beat Hirschfeld and net the
equaliser. It was a sickening blow for Tottenham, who had dominated
most of the game, but they could well have lost it. A minute from
time, King found himself in on goal on the right side of the box, but he
snatched at the ball and took his shot far too early to fire it into the
empty seating behind the goal. Spurs
breathed a sigh of relief and then broke upfield, where Postiga was pulled
down by a Forest player on the edge of the penalty box. Doig got
booked for dissent aimed at the ref for his decision, but the free-kick
was hit into the wall by Jacko, Yeates and Postiga and the match finished
with that last flurry of action. It
was a good performance by Spurs, who lost a little momentum when Redknapp
was withdrawn, but the side had a good shape and everyone played a part in
the game. With only three away games left, Stevenage Borough will not
see any Spurs action until the mandatory pre-season friendly in
July. However, we might see some of the players in action before
then in the first team, as some need blooding while there is an
opportunity to test them out in the first team towards the end of the
season. |
