Tottenham Hotspur   6    Reading   4      (Half-time score : 1-1)

  1 Robinson

  2 Chimbonda
  5 Kaboul
26 King (c) (18 Defoe 61)
  3 YP Lee

  8 Jenas
15 Malbranque
22 Huddlestone 
25 Lennon (17 Boateng 67)

  9 Berbatov
10 Keane (  6 Tainio 80)

Unused subs: 
12 Cerny
19 Taarabt

  1 Hahnemann

  2 Murty (c) (23  De la Cruz 71)
  5 Sonko
16 Ingimarsson
  3 Shorey    

10 Hunt
  4 Cisse    
15 Harper
17 Convey (24 Long 84    )

  9 Doyle
12 Kitson

Unused subs: 
32 Federici
  8 Lita
22 Bikey

Berbatov 7
Berbatov 63
Berbatov 73
Malbranque 76
Defoe 79
Berbatov 83

Cisse 16
Ingimarsson 53
Kitson 69
Kitson 74

   
Cisse (foul) 8
Shorey (dissent) 79
Long (foul) 90

The second highest goals total in a Premier League game came with the final score-line of 6-4 to Spurs, when the game looked lost after going behind for the third time at 3-4, but Ramos' gamble in going with three at the back salvaged the game and then reverting to four at the back again, Spurs went on to win it.

I don't think I have ever seen a game like it and it surpassed the 4-4 earlier in the season with Aston Villa.  Although a couple of our goals looked dubious, the argument should really have been about how both sides are mid-table when they ship so many goals.  It is the second time Reading have scored four away from home and gone back to Berkshire pointless.

When Young-Pyo Lee moved forward in the first couple of minutes and hit a shot that hit the target and brought a dive from Hahnemann to save, perhaps we should have known something was going to happen.  It is not often shots from Lee don't end up in row Z !!

When the first goal came, it was a simple affair.  Steed Malbranque, who had a another fine match, slid a pass through the Reading defence into the right hand channel of the penalty area for Robbie Keane.  Later in the game, Keane was flagged off-side a couple of times when it was marginal, but he escaped the linesman's eagle eye on this occasion and calmly delivered a square pass along the six yard line for Dimitar Berbatov to come in behind the defender to side-foot home with ease.  A sixth minute lead was just what we wanted to make Reading have to come out and play, with it also giving us something to build on. 

But like so many times this season, we have had to defend a lead and it didn't last too long.  The defence had done well to prevent anything getting through to Robinson until a free-kick was awarded for an unnecessary temperamental swing of the boot by Berbatov into Shorey's back on the Reading left wing by the halfway line.  Shorey played a high ball into the penalty area, where a host of players were gathered around the penalty spot.  Robinson came for it and tried to punch, but Kaboul was keen to head it away and between the two of them, they only succeeded in clearing the ball to the edge of the box, where Kalifa Cisse was standing and he guided a volley back towards goal, which went through the clump of players to equalise in the 16th minute.

It was another avoidable goal which we conceded and lead to a spell of Reading pressure, which they had not threatened before the leveller.  Robbo had to be on his toes a couple of minutes later as Hunt's cross flicked off Lee's heel and looped up and nearly went in at the angle, but Paul tipped it over the bar as it spun wildly.

Jenas had returned after injury and found it hard to get into the game, but he made a good burst into the area on the left side, but couldn't pull his cross back far enough to find Berbatov or Keane and it went straight into Hahnemann's arms.  At the other end, it took until the 33rd minute for another good chance, when Lennon was penalised for a foul on Convey on the edge of the area and Shorey stepped up to hit the free-kick goal-wards.  Luckily for Spurs, it was a bit too close to goal to allow him to get it down over the wall and it went over the bar, wit Robinson having it covered anyway.  Both teams tried to break through, but only Keane's first time shot that flew well over got close to goal.

Then, in the last minute of the half, Kaboul played a ball down the left wing, which Ingamarsson seemed to have covered, but his slip let in Berbatov to pull the ball across the face of goal with Robbie running in, but he went for it with his right foot instead of his left and missed converting it by inches, leaving the teams level at 1-1 at the break.

Little did we know what the second half held when both teams resumed for the restart.

YP got a good block on Doyle's shot in the opening minutes and Berbatov struck and outrageous lazy volley when his cross was blocked, but his effort landed on top of the net rather than in it.  A long Huddlestone free-kick from the left saw Chimbonda get a header across the box ahead of Shorey, but as Keane tried to control the ball to swivel and get a shot in, he was knocked off the ball by a combination of Ingimarsson and Sonko, but no penalty was given.  Then just after 50 minutes, Aaron Lennon cut in from the right wing to hit a left foot shot straight at Hahnemann, with Dimitar right in line, slightly unsighting the keeper.

This was when it all started.  In the 52nd minute, Reading took the lead for the first time.  Chimbonda made a good stretching block to deny Kitson and from the corner, Ingimarsson lost Hud and had a free header from a yard out that left Robinson helpless as it was knocked down with great power.  Reading were now in the ascendancy and only a couple of quick-thinking rushes from his goal-line by Paul Robinson stopped Kitson adding to the Reading tally.  The first saw a lucky bounce take the ball past the Tottenham defenders on the edge of the area leaving him through on Robbo, but the goalie made himself big as Kitson dithered and then a few minutes later Robinson smothered the ball as Kitson took a second touch in the area.  There was a strange substitution by Ramos saw Ledley King stunned to be going off when Jermain Defoe was standing waiting to enter the fray and this played into the Royals' hands with the defence all over the place as Hunt ran through and only a sharp save by Robinson kept the ball out and made up for his earlier blunder.  Then a high ball caused all sort of problems and it wasn't cleared effectively, so when it dropped to Kitson, he tried his luck from 20 yards out and the ball fizzed wide. 

Despite this, Tottenham capitalised on a poor piece of defending by Murty.  Defoe showed why he had been brought on, sprinting away from the defence as he ran onto a ball into the right hand corner of the pitch.  Jinking to the by-line, he pulled the ball back into the six yard box and Murty swung a boot at it, but the ball only went as far as Berbatov, who rifled it straight back, bulging the back of the net with the Reading captain and the keeper both left helpless by the ferocity of the shot.  So 63 minutes and it was now 2-2.

Spurs were now asking the questions, as Huddlestone hit a shot straight at Hahnemann and then Keane played Jermain in, but as he flicked the ball up, he could not get sufficient space to turn on it and totally missed the ball with his shot.  Spurs brought on Kevin-Prince Boateng for Aaron Lennon, who had not been able to get into the game that much, with the aim to strengthen the midfield.

Doyle attempted to fire in a shot, but Hud was back defending and blocked it out for a 70th minute corner.  Shorey once more whipped the ball in and this time it went to the near post, where Kitson had pulled away from Kaboul and met it in front of the near post.  The ball flashed across the goal and went in at the far post, despite Malbranque's effort to keep it out.  Another set-piece ... another goal conceded.

With Murty having a bit of a mare, Coppell brought on Ulysses De La Cruz, who was, I suppose supposed to shore things up at the back.  Good plan.  Not actually something that came to fruition though.

Another burst forward by Jenas brought Cisse across to slide the ball away from him for a corner.  As the former Forest midfielder crossed to the far post, Chimbonda got to it, but his header only went up in the air and as it dropped, Berbatov used his body to ease a defender out of the way and he tucked away a volley from close to his body past the rooted Hahnemann from six yards out for a well taken hat-trick.  The crowd went wild, as it had been so long since a Spurs player had recorded a treble.

Not that we were cheering for long, as a move broke down on the edge of the Reading box, when Boateng tried to thread a pass through and suddenly, the ball was switched forward and our defence was split open down the middle, as Hunt ran with the ball, then released it to Kitson on his left to allow the striker to prod it over Robinson as he came out low.  The Spurs fan celebrated his second, which gave Reading the lead for the third time in the 73rd minute.

A minute later, Tommy got the ball 25 yards out and despite the calls of the fans to shoot, he played a ball on the ground, through to Malbranque on the left side of the area, who cut inside onto his right foot and curled a shot round the keeper and into the roof of the net.  4-4 and just 90 seconds after Reading had regained the lead, it was all square again.

Watching the game, it was breathless stuff.  Goodness knows what it was like to play in.  but within another 90 seconds Tottenham were ahead for the first time in the second half.   A minute after Steed's leveller, Tommy got the ball 25 yards out and despite the calls of the fans to shoot, he played a ball on the ground, through to Robbie in the box, where he was floored by Sonko before he could line up a shot.  Penalty.  Keane got up to take the kick himself and after his miss against Arsenal last week, we all held our breath.  He ran up, without a stutter in his run this time, but hit low to Hahnemann's right, the keeper guessed correctly and beat the ball out.  Luckily for Tottenham, Defoe was the first one following in and nodded the ball into an unguarded net as it popped up kindly for him.  Defoe had gone into the box early and was about three yards into the box when Keane struck the spot-kick, but it was just one more thing that Stroud missed on the day. 

The miss ended Keane's action for the day, as Tainio came on to play right back and things were shifted around once more.  There were still ten minutes left and at the rate goals had been scored there was still time for at least another one.

And that is exactly what happened.  82 minutes gone and Kaboul's long through ball over the top found Dimitar shouldering his man to get there first and from the edge of the box, waited for it to sit up nicely for him to lash it past Hahnemann, despite the keeper getting his hand to the ball to round off the scoring at 6-4.  The crowd and the players went nuts !!  Berbatov hit four goals in what was a fairly quiet performance for him for long periods of the match.

Still the action didn't stop, as Defoe went on a run from left to right and from 23 yards out hit a pile-driver that the keeper could only beat out and then, when Reading finally got near the Spurs goal substitute Shane Long decided to barge Kaboul out of the way, even though there was no chance of the man in hoops getting the ball, which was in Robinson's hands.  Another yellow card and then it was time for the ref to blow the final whistle.

Phew !!  One of my friends watching the game with me wanted to stay after the players had left the field, just in case there were any more goals to go in !!

The result was a fantastic one for Tottenham, who needed the three points to stay in touch with the top half teams.  But more than that, it looked as though our kamikaze defending had cost us an initial winning position, so the spirit and Ramos' belief in playing the same way whether things were going your way or not seemed to pull them through.

Well, that and Reading being a bit crap.

The score hides our defensive failings - well, it doesn't really - but what we need to do is defend better in tight games, where we might not have the opportunity to score with almost every attack.

That will be put to the test in the next game against Villa, which I hesitate to guess will neither finish 6-4 nor 4-4.  And we face Reading again next Saturday in the FA Cup.  A repeat goal feast ?  Again, I think this was a one-off and the Cup tie might be a tighter affair.  but you never know !!

BURTON BRADSHAW