I’m trying desperately to keep my feet on the ground here and avoid getting carried away as we all know that one swallow maketh not a summer, however after an encouraging, if ultimately unsuccessful opening day performance against the Scousers we travelled to White Hart Lane on Saturday and produced…. oh how they produced…..
The day started with a pint in a different pub as our “usual” at Spurs has been inexplicably shut down (to make way for a club shop of sorts so I’m told) so we headed for the Victoria on Scotland Green for a few pints of the black stuff and a bit natter. Talk was quite obviously centred around Cisse and other potential new arrivals however as we made our way to the ground we heard that Chimbonda was out altogether and Murphy continued upfront, not Cisse as I had quite naively anticipated. Bardsley switched to right back, Higgy came in to left back and thankfully the midfield was left intact from the promising signs against Liverpool.
First 10-15 I thought we looked a bit fragile if I’m honest but gradually came into the game, Spurs seemed subdued (presumably due to Berbatov’s non appearance). Our graft was superb, Malbranque was buzzing around very effectively, Rico looks like a man possessed since he’s come back off his hollibobs, Reid was solid in the tackle and picking his passes off and the half (bizarrely described as “dour” on Skysports on me mobile) came to an end with the closest effort being a 20 yard effort from Steed which hit the foot of the post before bouncing away to safety…. we had looked the better team, the more composed on the ball, quicker to the ball and stronger in the tackle – so far so good.
2nd half we again looked the better team up until Rico hit a screamer from 25 yards into the top corner, he went mental, we went mental…. unfortunately for us it woke Spurs up from their slumber and the next 10-15 they battered us. A goal was almost inevitable despite a glaring miss from Woodgate, a couple of good saves from Gordon and Bent looking pretty poor ; a Spurs fan said on the 606 phone in afterwards that Spurs had kept the one striker that they all wanted rid of…. harsh words about the player or did we get off lightly by not signing him? Time will tell I guess. Their equaliser when it came was, although not a surprise, very fortuitous in the fact that a poor shot from Modric (I think) deflected twice off our defenders straight back into his path and eventually past Gordon into the back of the net via Jenas’s boot. As the Spurs fans momentarily awoke from their coma one fan looked over, gave me the v’s and shouted “small club”…. I laughed, I had to, it was pathetic. … The goal then spurred us into life and after a volley from Murphy from a tight angle and a bit of pressure the ball went out wide to Darryl who turned outside his man and whipped a beaut of a cross straight onto Cisse’s head who made absolutely no mistake and sent the travelling red and white army mental…. remarkably the last 10 minutes went by without much incident (although it did take an eternity for the 10 minutes to pass) and we marched out triumphantly onto the streets and onwards to our homes, victorious at White Hart Lane for the first time in 39 years (yes Anthony and the first time since you were born mate). I would predict that at almost any other time on our recent history we would have capitulated after the Spurs equaliser and lost by 2 or 3, we’re made of stronger stuff now and credit must go to all the players , coaching staff and possibly most importantly to Keano for this….. a little over 2 years ago we were beaten (and humiliated)3-1 at Southend…. incredible
Man of the match; You could choose anyone in red and white stripes but I’m going to give a joint award to Nyron, who was imperious at the back and Steed who is quite possibly the most talented footballer we’ve had at this club for many a year.
Twat of the match; The arse that shouted “fucking Northern c**t” at me on my way out of the ground, I smiled smugly back at him…..
Sorry for the late report folks
Cheers
Paul (TAFKARLC)