Dull and ultimately disappointing is how I would sum up this match. An archetypal end of season match where there more than a one of the Spurs players seemed to be going thro the motions. Spurs played ok and deservedly took the lead, but a familiar tale of missed chances and a fine goal by Ian Pearce saw us lose the chance to go clear into 7^th place.

While the match was almost instantly forgettable – it was great to meet up with long time topspurs regular GeordieYid (Andrew Hall) and again it was a fine gathering at the Northumberland before the match (Meatloaf, with Ma and Pa Meatloaf, Slatz, Lynford, The Nunns, Godders, Steve Morley, Chiefy, Mark and Tim, Jacob, Lee Dumont and John and last but not least the awayday Jonah. Rosie was also present and did a stunt more suited to a goon by selling a programme that he had found and obtained for nothing to someone who’d previously just brought him a drink.

Spurs lined up with many players unavailable and a couple playing on thro injuries. West Ham had an unusually looking bland team without any flair, held together by the dodgy man’s Dodgy Man, Glenn Roeder – probably the only person West Ham could have employed to look more dodgy than messers Redknapp and Lampard Snr.

I really cannot remember much about the first half. Davies looked good against their number 5 – while Anderton, Sherwood and Ziege did not seem to be doing much above the bare minimum. Rebrov was even worse – the Andrew Ridgeley of the Shevechenko/Rebrov partnership and he was removed at half time. Iversen was a welcome addition for the second half – and when you are saying that and meaning it you know you are in trouble!.

The Log was involved in our goal that we scored soon after the break. Mr Ed, who had another solid game won a tackle with determination that made it stand out by its rarity. The ball broke to Davies, and he picked out Iversen making an intelligent run and somehow managing not be offside thro the inside right channel. Ivo’s decent shot was parried by James and then Sheringham appeared out of nowhere to slot home a true poachers goal. This was Ted’s 110^th Spurs goal and his 4^th in his last 4 starts, which sees him, top the League goalscorers chart with Poyet and Ferdinand with 9 each.

We should have been two up a minute later when Davies low shot was parried by James and again Sheringham materialised out of nowhere to try to stab home the rebound, but James blocked it. 2-0 then and it was all over as West Ham were well fairly well organised crap – and never really looked like scoring.

Spurs controlled the match at 1-0 and as the second half wore on we were fairly comfortable. Winterburn came on halfway thro the second period and stopped the effectiveness of Davies that probably saved West Ham conceding a second. The best chance of the half fell to Sherwood. He reminded everyone of the player Blackburn used to have of the same name in the mid 90’s by getting into the box unmarked on the end of Iversen’s cross. He chested the ball and volleyed it in one movement, but unfortunately it was straight at James and he managed to parry over the bar.

At either end, Sinclair and Poyet shot over from 35 yards but just as it looked we were going to hang on for a win, disaster struck. A nothing move saw Davies try and hook the ball out of defence from the right full back position, but only found normally Donkey centre back Pearce on the edge of the box, but instead of blasting the first time effort high into the Park Lane which would have happened 99 times out of 100 – it flew into the top corner. A fine goal, but what a twat!

And that was that – more silly points frittered away and getting a creditable if not earth shattering 7^th look less hopeful now.

The Word of Hod

"We worked extremely hard in the second half to get ourselves into the lead and I think the key to the game is the chances we had at 1-0," reflected Glenn. "That's where we could have won the game and tied it up. We were a bit tentative in the first half and didn't have any cohesion to our game.

"I said to them at half-time we've got to wipe the slate clean. If I was the West Ham manager I'd be worried because they had plenty of possession but didn't score. We came out of the traps quick, Steffen Iversen did well for us, gave us good movement, got a terrific shot off and Teddy's there for the rebound and you think 'here we go'.

"We then had two good chances to finish them off so it's very frustrating for us again, especially to let the goal in so late. It was a wonderful strike, but it's to no avail if we had taken our chances and taken control of the game. It's a very, very disappointing feeling again."

"We had a chance to clear it from Ben Thatcher and a chance to clear it from Simon Davies. Ironically, they were two lads who played so well. I felt a few of our lads played well over 90 minutes, but I felt the whole team played well in the second half. We did enough to win the game and I felt we should have won the game.

"We have been punished for poor clearances but, I had Pearcey at Chelsea and he's never hit a left footer like that - and I don't think he will in the future. A few weeks back against Everton Weir hit a similar sort of goal against us. We want to get out of that habit, centre-halves hitting strikes like that."

Keller (6/10) – Not much to do, played well

Ziege (6/10) – Went thro the motions

Gardner (6/10) – Did ok

Perry (6/10) – Solid decent display as ever, and on a day when no one else shone, nicked the motm

Thatcher (6/10) – Another solid display from a player who is rapidly getting his own fan club

Anderton (6/10) – another flat performance.

Sherwood (/10) – Did ok, but nothing out of the ordinary

Poyet (6/10) – Walking pace

Rebrov (5/10) – Crap

Sheringham (6/10) – Took his goal well and did ok

Subs:

Iversen (6/10) – Did ok in a drab match

Doherty (6/10) – Few minutes at the end and good to have him back

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