Saturday 9th February 2002, 3.00pm

FA PREMIERSHIP, WHITE HART LANE

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 (Anderton 36, Davies 61)

Sullivan
King
Richards
Thatcher
Taricco
Sherwood
Davies
Anderton
Etherington
Iversen
Ferdinand (Rebrov 82)

Subs not used: Keller. Sheringham, Leonhardsen

LEICESTER CITY 1 (Oakes 78)

Walker - Sinclair, Elliott, Laursen - Impey, Oakes, Savage, Davidson, Stewart - Piper , Scowcroft

Referee: - Andy D’Urso

Attendance: - 35,793

The Premiership campaign is back on track with our first win since new years day against a rag bag of crap and cheats who will surely be relegated at the end of the season. Spurs move back up to 8th and in a nice comfort zone, which allows us to forget about the league for a couple of weeks so we can win our next two cup matches. 

Spurs lined up with many of the squad players standing in for the likes of Ziege, Gardner, Perry, Poyet, Freund and Sheringham (and that does not even go into our long term injured players) and started the match with a 3-5-2 formation with Thatcher the left centre back and Treacle and Etherington as the two wing backs. Spurs did change the formation around – the start of the second period saw both Les and Iversen adopt wide positions as Davies almost played centre forward and we went to a conventional 4-4-2 when Thatcher went off – but we definitely started with 3-5-2 (as we did against Bolton in the week). 

 

My biggest concern was that Ferdinand, one booking away from a suspension that would see him miss the final was included in front of Rebrov in the starting line up. We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes at the Lane and while Rebrov may have pissed Hoddle off, we did not really need to risk Les with such an important match coming up.

Leicester are a shadow of O’Neill’s successful side of the late 90’s had a load of old crap (and one very likeable goalkeeper but one cheating twat of a long haired midfielder) strung together by the anti football messiah. Bassett – 3 wins in 21 matches – is such a genius that his game plan involved Davidson to man mark Poyet, who everyone knew was suspended for this one. What a pillock. There was a minute’s silence for some gin soaked royal scrounger but while the flags were at half mast neither side wore black armbands.

On a bright sunny afternoon (which was to turn to driving rain by the final whistle) Spurs kicked off attacking the Park Lane, behind which returning favourite Walker got a great reception, inc “you’re Spurs and you know you are!”. Most of this match up until the last 15 minutes was devoid of atmosphere or passion on the pitch with Leicester only taking about 1000 quiet fans, but we did manage to get the obligatory “We only had 10 men” and “Savage is a wanker”.

Spurs controlled much of the match and played the ball around the best they could on a difficult pitch. Beneath us a duel developed between Impey and Etherington – the “Turtle and the Hare” which the Hare Etherington had much the better of, but again was inclined not to use the space outside the wing back. Etherington showed he matches his talent with commitment when going in full throttle into (and winning) a 50-50 challenge with Davidson which will stay in my mind as much as his excellent runs later in the match as it shows he has the necessary appetite for the battle.

Sully did a routine save from Davidson before Spurs began to pile it on. Ferdinand released Iversen on the right-hand side of the box in a situation I was sure even he could not miss from, but unfortunately Iversen dragged his shot wide of the post. You cannot slag him off for getting in a great position but it drives you up the wall that he cannot score easy goals like this! Ferdinand had an effort saved by Walker and Etherington fired a low shot back across goal that only missed the post by a foot with Walker beaten.

With the first 30 minutes all Tottenham, we needed a goal to reflect our dominance and it duly came 10 minutes from the break. With no Mr Ed to lump the ball into the box from a free kick on the halfway line, King rolled it to Treacle who took the ball on a few yards before floating a cross over to Ferdinand. Sir Les jumped well and headed across goal to Iversen who nodded the ball back for Anderton to nip in and hook the ball home. A sweet and well worked goal.

Iversen had another chance before the interval, but the best chance fell to Richards from an Anderton corner, but he headed over when he really should have done better.

The match did not improve in the second period, but we were rewarded with a fine goal on the hour. Anderton and Treacle worked a quick free kick which sent Les away down the right. He found Anderton racing into the right-hand side of the box. Shaggy hooked over a great cross and Davies arriving out of nowhere stole into deflect the ball into the far corner.

 

2-0 and strolling. 

 

At the other end, Richards and Thatcher clashed heads at the far post and after some treatment it was obvious by the lump on Thatcher’s face that he had to go off and was replaced by Thelwell.

Spurs attack the Paxton in the second half

Etherington continued to look dangerous and we really should have wrapped the game up when Davies picked out Iversen unmarked and in the clear on the left hand edge of the box. Iversen did everything right when chipping the advancing Walker, but the ball hit the crossbar and could not be nodded in by Sir Les (who looked to get a shove as he went for the ball) before Leicester cleared.

The game was petering out for a Spurs win when the ref gave a nonsense free kick when Sherwood cleared from the loathsome Savage. There was a lot going on as the kick was taken including Savage rolling Treacle to the ground, which gave Oakes the space to hit a fine free kick into the net. The Spurs players protested against the latest episode of Savage cheating but to no avail.

 Suddenly the game had an edge & and it all went off a few minutes later when Savage clattered into Ferdinand. Scuffles broke out all over the pitch and Sir Les was literally hopping mad. With a booking putting him out of the final, Hoddle rushed Rebrov to the get ready and Impey pushed Treacle in the face, sending him to the ground.

 

Bassett was later to moan about this but what was Impey doing pushing Treacle in the face? He aught to look closer to home when it comes to cheating.

When order was finally restored, the ref called over wankpot Savage and Ferdinand and for a moment we all feared the worst. Thankfully it was just a talking to and despite Les looking less than happy, Rebrov was on to preserve him for the final. After consulting both linesmen, Impey was booked when he should have been sent off – but I’m just relieved that Sir Les escaped without a ban – plenty of time to get Savage on the last day of the season while we sing “Savage’s going down……”.

Leicester pressed on for an equaliser and Thelwell did not inspire confidence in what was becoming a nervous end to a game we dominated. Leicester had a great chance to score, but Sully pulled off a great save a couple of minutes from time to save the points for us from a close range effort from Davidson. At the other end Rebrov had a couple of chances as gaps appeared as Leicester looked for an equaliser but he lobbed over and chose to pass when he should have shot.

The final whistle was a relief, but we were deserved winners and now we can clear our minds for the important cup games coming up.

The Word of Hod

"I couldn't get (Sir Les) off quick enough If I could have jumped on his back before the referee got there I would have ridden him off down the tunnel! My heart sank when the ref went over to him, thought it might be disappointing. Les knows it was the right decision to come off now but at the time he was all over the place."

"It was a hard game in the end," Glenn added. "Let's face it, we were in control and at 2-0, Steffen Iversen hit the bar and if that goes in, it's game over and we wouldn't have had that flurry in the end. When they got the free-kick, I didn't think it was a free-kick but the referee gave it, he took it well and all of a sudden the game changed. We're suddenly on the back foot, they throw Elliott up, throw bodies forward and once it's 2-1 you're sitting uncomfortably on the edge of your seat.

"But the lads battled hard, put their heads in, blocked and Sully came up with a wonderful save late on. I would really have been upset if we'd have only ended up with a point after controlling the game."

Urrrrrrrtcha caaaaaaaaaaasahnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Treacle's unofficial reaction to Bassett's comments (with thanks as ever to Jacob Goldberg)

Sullivan (7/10) – A cracking save at the end won the game for Spurs and it is good to know he still has the magic

Thatcher (6/10) – Did his job ok without looking like you would want him in the team on a regular basis, but an ok if expensive squad player

Richards (6/10) – Generally did ok with the modest crap Leicester had to offer and had some good moments from set pieces for us at the other end

King (7/10) – Class & got a deserved first England call up after the match

Taricco (6/10) – Did ok

Etherington (6/10) – Another promising match for Mushy with his pace frightening defenders every time he set off on a run. An added bonus was the ferocity that he went in for a 50-50 with Callum Davidson in the first few minutes – and commitment like that added to his promise should see him go far.

Anderton (7/10) – A fine performance from Shaggy who continues his good recent form even if you take away the fact that he scored and set up the other and it is great to see him coming good again after all his injury problems.

Sherwood (6/10) – Another solid performance from Timmah, and it is probably no coincidence that his partnership with Anderton since the Chelsea first leg, has seen an upturn in Anderton’s form. Freund was doing a great job before, but Sherwood has that bit more class when he is on form and he offers Spurs a lot of options in the middle

Davies (6/10) – Did not have a great game when given the office in what I think is his best position of attacking midfielder with the suspension of Poyet but scored a great goal, appearing out of nowhere to score what proved to be the winner.

Iversen (6/10) – Managed to miss an easy chance in the first half and was desperately unlucky not to score in the second when he hit the bar. Not brilliant but not bad.

Ferdinand (6/10) – Had a good match but lost his rag at the end and was lucky not to be booked in the fracas after the Leicester goal. Sure it was bad stuff, but not worth risking a cup final place over!

Subs:

Rebrov (6/10) – Had his usual cameo at the end. Chose to pass when it would have been easier to shoot and no amount of lack of match practice can explain that. After his weekend rantings, will hopefully be on his way soon for the best for everyone.

Thelwell (6/10) – Looked nervous again when he came on and while he did not do anything wrong, he did not inspire confidence

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