Saturday, March 20, 2010
Stoke City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur: Gudjhonsen first scores
uk.eurosport.com
Tottenham Hotspur moved a step closer to securing fourth place in the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.
Eidur Gudjohnsen scored his first goal for Spurs just 20 seconds into the second half, and soon after his side were playing against 10 men as Dean Whitehead was sent off. Despite being a man down, former Spurs winger Matthew Etherington equalised from the penalty spot for the Potters, before Niko Kranjcar fired home the winner for the North London side.
The win puts Spurs four points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool and five ahead of sixth-placed Manchester City, who have two games in hand. Aston Villa are also five points behind, with one game more to play than Tottenham.
With striker Jermain Defoe joining Aaron Lennon on the Tottenham injury list on Friday, Spurs lacked a cutting edge up front. Their cause was not helped when Roman Pavlyuchenko limped off injured in the first half, the in-form Russian striker being replaced by Eidur Gudjohnsen on 36 minutes.
The visitors struggled to cope with Stoke's physical approach, and it was the home side that had the better of the scant first-half opportunities.
Although Spurs managed on the whole to repel Rory Delap's long throws, one such delivery was met by a flick-on from Dave Kitson, and goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes had to get down low to palm the effort away.
Stoke skipper Abdoulaye Faye headed an effort over the bar after Gomes pawed at a cross, and had a shot on the turn blocked by Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
Gareth Bale was often Tottenham's best attacking outlet, although he had to deal with some typically rough treatment from the home side. The Welshman was on the receiving end of a clumsy challenge from Whitehead, for which the Stoke midfielder picked up his first booking of the afternoon.
Thomas Sorensen was only called into action once in the first half. The Denmark keeper spilled a Niko Kranjcar shot but managed to pounce on the loose ball before Peter Crouch could follow up.
Having been denied any clear-cut chances during the whole of the first half, Spurs took the lead right from the restart. Gudjohnsen played the ball to Crouch and latched on to the return pass lifted over the defence, and stayed strong under pressure from Faye to blast a rasping finish into the roof of the net and open his Tottenham account.
Two minutes later Stoke were down to 10 men when another awkward challenge from Whitehead - on Luka Modric this time - led to Mike Dean showing him a second yellow card and a subsequent red, the sixth shown to a Stoke player this season.
At that point it looked as though Spurs were going to run away with the match, as Modric and Gudjohnsen combined well for the Croatian to force a save from Sorensen.
However, Benoit Assou-Ekotto contrived to allow the Potters back into the match. First the Cameroon defender had an on-pitch row with team-mate Vedran Corluka, calling for Ricardo Fuller to step in and separate the pair. Then, just minutes later, he conceded a penalty for a foul on Dave Kitson, which Etherington clinically despatched on 64 minutes.
Tottenham were clearly rattled by letting their lead slip, and they should have gone behind when a loose ball broke for Fuller on the edge of the six-yard box, only for the striker to fire over the bar with one of the worst misses of the season.
The visitors regained their composure, and Assou-Ekotto earned partial redemption by creating the winner, as Gudjohnsen dummied over his low cross allowing Kranjcar to fire into the top corner for his first goal since December.
Yet still Stoke could have pulled the rug from underneath Tottenham's top four ambitions when Sebastien Bassong's suicidal header back to Gomes fell right into the path of substitute Mamady Sidibe, but the striker slipped over at the crucial moment.
Spurs withstood a late barrage of Delap throws and Etherington corners to hang on for a vital three points.
Tony Mabert / Eurosport
Source: uk.eurosport.com
uk.eurosport.com
Eidur Gudjohnsen scored his first goal for Spurs just 20 seconds into the second half, and soon after his side were playing against 10 men as Dean Whitehead was sent off. Despite being a man down, former Spurs winger Matthew Etherington equalised from the penalty spot for the Potters, before Niko Kranjcar fired home the winner for the North London side.
The win puts Spurs four points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool and five ahead of sixth-placed Manchester City, who have two games in hand. Aston Villa are also five points behind, with one game more to play than Tottenham.
With striker Jermain Defoe joining Aaron Lennon on the Tottenham injury list on Friday, Spurs lacked a cutting edge up front. Their cause was not helped when Roman Pavlyuchenko limped off injured in the first half, the in-form Russian striker being replaced by Eidur Gudjohnsen on 36 minutes.
The visitors struggled to cope with Stoke's physical approach, and it was the home side that had the better of the scant first-half opportunities.
Although Spurs managed on the whole to repel Rory Delap's long throws, one such delivery was met by a flick-on from Dave Kitson, and goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes had to get down low to palm the effort away.
Stoke skipper Abdoulaye Faye headed an effort over the bar after Gomes pawed at a cross, and had a shot on the turn blocked by Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
Gareth Bale was often Tottenham's best attacking outlet, although he had to deal with some typically rough treatment from the home side. The Welshman was on the receiving end of a clumsy challenge from Whitehead, for which the Stoke midfielder picked up his first booking of the afternoon.
Thomas Sorensen was only called into action once in the first half. The Denmark keeper spilled a Niko Kranjcar shot but managed to pounce on the loose ball before Peter Crouch could follow up.
Having been denied any clear-cut chances during the whole of the first half, Spurs took the lead right from the restart. Gudjohnsen played the ball to Crouch and latched on to the return pass lifted over the defence, and stayed strong under pressure from Faye to blast a rasping finish into the roof of the net and open his Tottenham account.
Two minutes later Stoke were down to 10 men when another awkward challenge from Whitehead - on Luka Modric this time - led to Mike Dean showing him a second yellow card and a subsequent red, the sixth shown to a Stoke player this season.
At that point it looked as though Spurs were going to run away with the match, as Modric and Gudjohnsen combined well for the Croatian to force a save from Sorensen.
However, Benoit Assou-Ekotto contrived to allow the Potters back into the match. First the Cameroon defender had an on-pitch row with team-mate Vedran Corluka, calling for Ricardo Fuller to step in and separate the pair. Then, just minutes later, he conceded a penalty for a foul on Dave Kitson, which Etherington clinically despatched on 64 minutes.
Tottenham were clearly rattled by letting their lead slip, and they should have gone behind when a loose ball broke for Fuller on the edge of the six-yard box, only for the striker to fire over the bar with one of the worst misses of the season.
The visitors regained their composure, and Assou-Ekotto earned partial redemption by creating the winner, as Gudjohnsen dummied over his low cross allowing Kranjcar to fire into the top corner for his first goal since December.
Yet still Stoke could have pulled the rug from underneath Tottenham's top four ambitions when Sebastien Bassong's suicidal header back to Gomes fell right into the path of substitute Mamady Sidibe, but the striker slipped over at the crucial moment.
Spurs withstood a late barrage of Delap throws and Etherington corners to hang on for a vital three points.
Tony Mabert / Eurosport
Source: uk.eurosport.com
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