Tottenham Hotspur   2    Manchester City   1      (Half-time score : 1-0)

  1  Gomes

22  Corluka
39  Woodgate (  2  Hutton 46)
26  King
32  Assou-Ekotto

  6  Huddlestone
15  Keane (c) 
  8  Jenas (  4  Zokora 67)
14  Modric

  9  Pavlyuchenko (18  Campbell 75)
25  Defoe   

Unused subs: 
23  Cudicini
  3  Bale
  5  Bentley
21  Chimbonda

37 Given

  2  Richards
22  Dunne
  4  Onuoha
25  Bridge

33  Kompany
34  De Jong
  7  Ireland
11  Elano (  5  Zabaleta 32     )

17  Petrov (  9  Bojinov 61  )
20  Caicedo (27  Benjani 61)

Unused subs: 
  1  Hart
19  Fernandes
28  Sturridge
36  Berti

Defoe 29
Keane (p) 86

Bojinov 65

    
Zabaleta (foul) 42  

A penalty out of nothing is something Spurs are not usually the recipient of and it was perhaps welcome after being on the end of a large number of contentious decisions.

And in the first half, Tottenham's play deserved more that their one goal lead at half time, with some fine passing and movement, but lacking the finish as as so often been the way this season.

Manchester City failed to trouble Heurelho Gomes in the first half, with his only work coming when Caicedo hit a weak shot straight at him in the 22nd minute and the play was generally towards the City goalkeeper Shay Given.  Defoe's shot after a rebound found the net, but was ruled out for offside inside the first minute, with the little Spurs forward testing Given with a low shot through some legs, only for the keeper to fingertip the ball around the post low down to his left. 

Jermaine Jenas slid in to take the ball off Elano, just as he looked like he was going to shoot and showed why the defensive record is so good, with the midfield getting back to help out the back four.  But at the other end, it was Pavlyuchenko who was next testing Given, who saved, but the ball went wide for Defoe to cross back in, but there was no Tottenham head to meet the ball.

With 18 minutes gone, Tom Huddlestone's corner was well met by Ledley King's head and his downward effort was well saved on the line by Given, but ten minutes later, it was Huddlestone again, this time popping up on the right, to play in a low cross into the six yard box, which found Defoe running in and slotting the ball past the City keeper with a cheeky back-heel.  it was a well worked move to create space on the right for the cross and a well-timed run by JD to meet the ball as it came in.

I feel it will be a mistake to let Tom Huddlestone leave the club.  His range of passing is unequalled and for his weaknesses, his presence in the side is one which is beneficial rather than detrimental.  He may have to have helpers alongside him, such as Palacios or Jenas to give legs to the midfield, but he is well worth his place, such is his accuracy in setting up chances.  Take the incident five minutes after the goal.  he got the ball, powered down the left, cut back as Richards tried to challenge and as he was almost falling, dinked an immaculate ball over Dunne's head for Robbie Keane to chest down and just fail to make a good contact on the volley.

A number of times the ball fizzed across the City six yard box from the left with Jenas' cross failing to find anyone on the end of it and Assou-Ekotto got one beyond Dunne, but the arrival of the ball seemed to surprise Keane, who could not convert from close range, when it looked easier to score.  BAE was on the end of two heavy challenges from substitute Zabaleta within a couple of minutes and he found his way into Halsey's book for the sliding tackle that took the Spurs left back out as he got away down the left.

The only other bit of action of the half was when Jermaine Defoe was tackled and he slid into the linesman and took him out, requiring medical attention and the stretcher was called but not needed, although I think he was replaced at half-time by Stuart Atwell !!  Another change at half-time saw Alan Hutton come on for Jonathan Woodgate, who must have been injured and this allowed Vedran Corluka to step inside to join King in the middle.

Soon after the restart Onuoha clashed with Pav and the Russian needed some attention to a knock on the head, but he returned to the fray.  It sparked a bit of a revival for City, with Ledley doing well to push a promising attack by the visitors wide of the goal and when Caicedo was put through on goal, his lame chip was easily gathered by Gomes.  The Ecuadorian missed another chance when he hit a shot very wide after Zabaleta played him in.  it was lucky for Spurs that City didn't have their shooting boots on during this period, but when Hughes took off Caicedo and Petrov, to bring on Benjani and Bojinov on the hour, things changed, although in the long run, not always for the better.

There was a bit of a panic a couple of minutes after when Gomes came for a catch or punch, but failed to get to it over a couple of forwards, leaving it loose in the area, but luckily it fell to Richard Dunne, who hit his shot off target.  Then in the 65th minute, City equalised.  A nothing ball was chipped into the Tottenham box by Ireland and as Benjani jumped for it with Corluka, it dropped down and Bojinov got to it first to flash it past Gomes and score the first goal against Spurs at home since Beattie got a consolation for Stoke back in January.

Jenas pulled up with an injury and on came Didier Zokora to replace him in midfield and his energy helped Spurs at this time, as City were pushing on.  Hutton got a good header in as Benjani looked like he was going to get on the end of Kompany's cross in the 73rd minute, but a minute later, the Scots full-back was at the other end, where he put in a low cross from the right which Pavlyuchenko screwed wide from five yards out when it looked easier to score.  Luckily, he had been flagged offside, so it didn't matter anyway.  Shortly after, Harry Redknapp brought on Fraizer Campbell for Roman, as he went for the winner.

That nearly came at the other end, when Zabaleta created a chance for Bojinov, but his shot was well stopped by Gomes, although he couldn't hold it and Hutton had to kick the ball to safety before a City player could get there.  in the 83rd minute, a long ball found Luka Modric, who had a quiet second half, where he showed how wrong Wenger had been about his lack of strength to play in the Premier League, as he held off defenders and got a shot in that went just wide.

A minute later, a move on the right lead to the winning goal.  Hutton and Defoe linked after the striker had done well to hold off the physical attention he was getting from Micah Richards, leading to him having a shot on goal that Given saved.  As the shot came in, Richards had got back to mark Campbell who was making a run into the box.  As he did so, Richards fell on top of him and Halsey pointed to the spot.  It wasn't the first time the City defender had done this during the game, but he had got away with it until then.  No card for him, which was surprising, but Keane accepted the penalty and with his Republic of Ireland team-mate Given in goal, coolly waited until he had gone one way and then stuck the ball into the opposite side of the goal.  That made it 2-1 in the 86th minute.

Noel Gallagher appeared out of his box, where a Spurs security guard had advised him to retreat to after the "banter" he was engaged in got a bit heated and this time he good humouredly took the stick of his side going behind.

With seconds of normal time remaining, it looked as though Manchester City might get a leveller, with Kompany heading Zabaleta's corner at goal and looking on the way in, until substitute Benjani headed it the other way, but over the bar.  It was the break that Tottenham needed to see out the game and kept the ball well for added time and then moved it up to the other end.  Modric showed great skill to get past a couple of City defenders and then pulled the ball back low for Defoe to fire in another shot, but this time it went wide.

The final whistle blew and the home part of the season seemed over all too quickly.  With another home win, the only home defeat under Redknapp came in one of his early games to Everton and that confidence had taken the team to the brink of Europe.  Whether the run to get a place in the Europa League will be just a little too late, we will have to wait until next Sunday to find out.  But to take it to the wire after the start Spurs had is an achievement in itself.

STANFORD RIVERS