Tottenham Hotspur   1    Portsmouth   1      (Half-time score : 0-0)

  1  Gomes

22  Corluka
26  King (c)  (20  Dawson 44)
39  Woodgate 
  3  Bale

  7  Lennon
14  Modric  (  5  Bentley58)
24  O'Hara
  4  Zokora

25  Defoe
  9  Pavlyuchenko (10  Bent 28)

Unused subs: 
27  Alnwick
  6  Huddlestone
19  Taarabt
18  Campbell 

  1  James

  5  Johnson
23  Campbell (c)
15  Distin
29  Belhadj

30  A. Traore
25  Davis     
  3  Kaboul      (35  Wilson 88)
19  Krancjar (  7  Hreidarsson 90)

  9  Crouch
10  Nugent (17  Utaka 73)

Unused subs: 
31  Begovic
16  Pamarot
25  Little
27  Kanu

Defoe 70

Nugent 59

As it was, it was left to former Pompey striker Jermaine Defoe to capture the headlines with a goal that brought about a late charge that could have seen Spurs take all three points.

The game started off quite open, with both side finding space and breaking to make it end-to-end stuff, which was strange, considering both sides were on bad runs and needed the points.  Traore broke through on the left, but severely sliced his shot into the crowd in the first minute, then Bale hit a shot with the same result, only he didn't slice it, just blazed it over the top.  Vedran Corluka popped up on the other side to cut in and have a shot blocked by a defender before it could get to James, then a great opening was presented to Defoe by a Sean Davis pass across the front of his penalty area, but the Spurs striker took it too far left and smashed a left foot shot wide, when perhaps concentrating on placement might have brought him the goal against the side he recently signed from.

Lennon replicated Corluka's effort, but it did bring a low save from the Portsmouth keeper and then Gomes was called into action at the other end, with a palm away from Glen Johnson's low cross-shot and then he had to react quickly to knock the ball away with his hand, as Peter Crouch looked set to pounce at the far post.  However, James was the busier of the two goalies and a snapshot from long-distance by Pavyluchenko kept him on his toes, then Lennon repeated his shot and brought another save from the goalie in the 15th minute.  It had been a hectic opening quarter of an hour.

Fortunately for Spurs, a lot of the Portsmouth attacking came down their left, where on loan from the Gooners Armand Traore was more intent on showing off his tricks than damaging the Tottenham defence.  He did get into a shooting position, but hit the side-netting and when the ball dropped from Modric for Aaron Lennon, he hit a first time effort at the other end from 20 yards and had James scrambling across his line to turn the shot away, after not seeing too much of it until late on.  Then Defoe blocked Pavlyuchenko's volley at the far post from O'Hara's near post corner, that Woodgate flicked on.  Spurs went even closer in the 23rd minute, when Lennon raced away from former team-mate Kaboul and crossed from the right, straight onto the head of Jermain Defoe, a couple of yards out and central in the six yard box.  He rose to head the ball at goal, but James dived upwards to tip the ball over the top.  As predicted, he was having a stormer of a match.

With the game being so stretched, there were large gaps in the middle of the field and when Nugent got clear away on the Tottenham left, he took the ball too wide to shoot and instead pulled it back into the middle for Traore, but Corluka had tracked his run superbly and got a block in as he hit a shot that would have given Portsmouth the lead.  It was conflicting feelings for one of the Spurs forwards, as Roman was hit late from behind by Davis, who got booked, but it was a much worse foul than some recent sending offs have been.  The Russian left on a stretcher and was replaced by Darren Bent.

Just after the half hour, Corluka had switched sides to cover for Bale taking a corner on the right wing, but the ball came out to him and he put a cross in that arrowed towards goal and it only took a flick from Ledley King to produce a fine diving stop from James, who kept it out and Bent was denied the follow-up as he was offside.  Too often, Spurs were giving the ball away in midfield, with Zokora and O'Hara both being guilty and these turn-overs of possession quickly lead to chances.  O'Hara's mistake gave the visitors the chance to put Kaboul away and he hit the side netting, when he should have done better.  Then, a few minutes before the break, Kranjcar set Nugent through, with King struggling with a hamstring pull.  The striker got away and through with only Gomes to beat.  The keeper had obviously come into the game with his groin injury playing him up, so with a forward bearing down on him, it looked for all the world that Pompey would go ahead, but the goalie made a very good stop with his leg, as it should have been 1-0 to Portsmouth.

O'Hara had almost done the right thing at the other end, with a quickly taken effort that had James worried, but it hit the side-netting, luckily for the keeper.  King's hamstring meant he could not continue and Dawson came on for him, with just 44 minutes gone.  Two subs used already and a keeper limping from minute one.

The injury time added on for all Tottenham's woes brought Portsmouth another good chance, but as Nugent was priming himself to shoot, Dawson dived in to put him off and make him shoot over the bar.  Even then, Lennon produced another shot on target with James being required to dive to his left to stop the low effort.

Unfortunately for Darren Bent, most of what happened with Spurs going forward involved him.  An early Lennon cross that was missed by central defender Distin found our forward not anticipating it and the ball hit him on the heel and bounced away from him.  But that was least of his contributions to Spurs failing to win.

Within the space of a minute around the 57 minute mark, Spurs could have been 1-0 ahead, but ended up 0-1 behind.  Zokora went on a run into the heart of the Pompey defence and slipped a neat pass out towards Lennon.  Aaron cut past Belhadj and crossed low, but the bal hit Distin and went towards goal, where David James changed direction rapidly and bundled the ball out at the foot of his post.  He threw the ball to Traore, who raced towards the Spurs penalty area and when Corluka slid in to tackle him, the ball went across the face of the Tottenham box and straight into the path of David Nugent, who hit it first time and it flicked off the leg of Gareth Bale before beating Gomes' dive and giving the visitors the lead.

It was a gutting feeling, as it was against the run of play and demonstrated that when the luck is against you, it is really against you.  One deflection at one end stopped a goal and one at the other brought one about.  So, how would Tottenham react ?  Crouch has a header, but couldn't get it on target.  O'Hara won a far post header to Lennon's cross, but the bal went harmlessly wide.  Harry made his last substitution and it was not one which gave you lots of hope, as David Bentley replaced Bale, with O'Hara dropping to left back.  The signing from Blackburn Rovers had not done a lot to enthuse the Spurs fans, but injected a bit of forward running and indicated that if he played like this more often, he might be a useful part of the team.

In fact, it was only a couple of minute after his entrance that Modric linked with Corluka, took a return pass from Zokora and prodded sideways into the path of Jermain Defoe to rifle a low shot through Sol Campbell's legs from outside the area and past James to celebrate his first goal back with a roll on the floor and a yell to the skies.  He wasn't alone in the relief of his goal.

The goal breathed new life into the Spurs side and Corluka made another advance on the right and cut inside to curl a left-footer just outside the post with James beaten with twenty minutes left.  Bentley had already put a free-kick over the bar and into row L, when he stepped up for another one.  Much the same result was expected, but as it cleared all the Spurs shirts in the box it also almost cleared James, who had to tip it over the bar as it looked as though it might drop over him.  From the corner, Corluka met it with a header that looped over everyone in the goalmouth, but Davis was stationed on the far post to head the ball off the line.

Then came the moment that could have won the game for Spurs.  Bentley drove down the left wing and got a yard of space to put over a leftfooted cross that left James grasping at thin air.  With no defenders around him and James nowhere, all Bent had to do was put a header straight in front of him from about two yards out.  Unfortunately, from a central position, he managed to direct it wide of the goal and not many who witnessed it could quite believe what they had seen.  To say it was a poor finish is a slight on the poor.

However, Tottenham kept going forward and Defoe hit a shot from outside the box that flew wide and then in added time, Lennon freed Bent on the right, but he lashed his effort straight at James, who made an easy stop.  Earlier in the half, he had been put through the middle of the Portsmouth defence and while he had a defender either side of him, his touch was poor and he put the bal straight through to James without getting a shot in.

Tottenham created enough chances to win a couple of games today, but with wasteful and woeful finishing, they did well to get back into it after going a goal behind to gain a point.  However, in this relegation battle, a point is not enough and we need wins quickly.  With games coming up against clubs around us, it will help pull Tottenham away from the bottom and plunge them back into it, but there will be tougher opposition than Portsmouth to come.

They were poor, but we couldn't find the quality often enough to put them away.

Bellamy isn't the answer.  It has to come from within the players we have already, as I can't see someone coming in and making an immediate difference from the names that have been linked with Spurs.

Either that or Harry has to work some more magic and quick.

BARRINGTON LEVY