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Spurs made heavy weather in the sunshine against a well-drilled Reading
side, who got numbers back behind the ball as soon as they lost
possession, but fell to a single Robbie Keane goal from the penalty
spot. The way the game started, it
looked like Reading would be penned back in their own penalty area for
the majority of the match. Within two and a half minutes, Berbatov
had laid a header into Lennon's path and he passed through the Reading
back line to set up Steed Malbranque. Homing in on goal, he fired
a shot from fifteen yards out against the outside of the post and off.
Steed really should have made Hahnemann work in the opening moments.
Just a minute later, Berba once more was the provider when he chested
down Zokora's ball in from the left wing and Robbie Keane found himself
in front of goal with only the keeper to beat. He shot low, but
Hahnemann managed to get a foot onto the shot and it squirted wide of
the goal.
It was Dimitar's turn next, when Rocha
and Malbranque crafted an opening for the striker, but as he got his
shot in, Hahnemann was on top of him as he raced out and blocked his
shot.
So, having had the chances to open up an
early lead, Spurs were almost punished for their profligacy. Lee
allowed Little to cut inside from the right wing and play a ball into
the area, which Leroy Lita got to first and Robbo was static as the
Reading striker's header thumped against the post and came out.
Spurs were also lucky that it bounced past two incoming red shirted
players, who could not get anything on it to divert it back into the
net.
The game was so open that it was
end-to-end stuff. Keane tried to chip the Reading goalie, but
never got enough height on his effort, while Ricardo Rocha was (perhaps
harshly) booked for a clash with Lita as they chased a ball that saw the
Reading man fall to the ground. Rocha had a fine game, winning
much in the air and making some timely interceptions. Tottenham
were grateful to the reflexes of Robinson after 21 minutes, when a
free-kick caused a melee on the edge of the area, with a clearance
clearly being moved forward by the hand of Hunt, before it dropped
kindly for Spurs fan Dave Kitson. He powered his shot at goal from
eight yards out, but Paul dived to beat out the fierce effort. So,
some justice was done.
Didier Zokora was another player who had
a really good game. Breaking up attacks and launching some of his
own, the only thing he could be faulted for was trying to score, as he
appears to be the new Steffen Freund in that respect. Reaching a
good shooting position, he drags his shots wide, but he made a vital
intervention when Sidwell lined up a drive on goal, but throwing himself
to the ground in front of the midfielder and his foot took the ball
wide.
Spurs were looking fluent in their
passing and Reading had to chase hard to get men behind the ball, but
when a move went through the front three, it was played into Keane's
path and he took just a little too long to shoot and had the ball
whisked away before he could trouble Hahnemann. However, his next
shot did make it 1-0. A move down the left, starting with Lee's
throw-in saw the ball bounce up as Keane tried to get past Halford, but
the ex-Colchester man stopped the ball with his hand and with the
referee in close attendance, Robbie's appeal took a while to bring the
whistle to his lips, but he pointed to the spot. After a sea of
red shirts surrounded the ref, with the usual gamesmanship from the
keeper and Hunt, Keano stepped up to put the ball halfway up to the
keeper's right at a height he could not reach to give Tottenham the
lead.
The injury time foul on Zokora as he
raced through the Reading side and to the edge of the box almost gave
Berbatov the opportunity to double the lead, but even though the
free-kick cleared the wall, it did not have sufficient power to get past
the goalie.
And it was Hahnemann's last involvement
in the game, as he was replaced at the break by Frederici.
Tottenham tried to use Lennon more in the second half, as the double
marking on him in the first period reduced his effectiveness. The
first chance he ad to run at the Reading defence saw him turn Duberry
inside out and without many options open to him, he hit a shot which he
dragged across goal and wide. Berbatov made a chance for Keane,
but his hard-hit shot lacked direction and it flew too high. Even
when Spurs did get the ball in the net, it didn't count, as Berba's
overhead kick into the centre of the goal found Jermaine Jenas, where he
swivelled to shot past Frederici, but was denied a goal by the lineman's
offside flag just before the hour.
With Aaron making headway now, as Reading
tried to force the pace for an equaliser, he picked out Berbatov in the
right hand channel in the area, but the forward hit a good shot, but
only found the side-netting. Zokora hit a 25 yarder that the
keeper had to take low down and Berbatov set up Steed, but his shot went
over the angle of post and crossbar from just outside the area.
Didier almost got through when he went on a long run that went on and
on, until he was inside the area, but he was stopped by Halford's
tackle.
Defoe replaced Keane on 75 minutes, with
the Irishman passing the armband on, but it didn't reach its destination
as Michael Dawson was handed it and put it on his arm, with Paul
Robinson beckoning the centre back to hand it to him !! In Defoe's
short appearance he had four shots on goal. The first brought a
low shot that Frederici stopped with his legs; the second saw Defoe prod
the ball past the keeper after Jenas had set him up and the flag for
offside denied him; the third effort saw him latch onto a Berbatov
header and hit the side netting with the Bulgarian wanting the ball back
and his last chance came following a mazy run from deep by Young-Pyo
Lee, who took on the Reading defence and played a square ball to Defoe,
just 12 yards out and with only the keeper to beat. He so wanted
to score that he hit it with all his might and the ball soared over the
top.
In between Defoe's shooting practice,
Malbranque and Defoe made a chance for Dimitar, but his volley was
acrobatically saved by the Reading sub goalie, who held it well and when
Huddlestone came on for the tiring Malbranque, he opened up the defence
with a 1-2 with Lennon and he changed feet to open up space before
putting his shot a yard wide.
However, it was Reading who were
threatening towards the end and they were aiming to make the most of
their set-plays. Getting free-kicks, corners and from Halford's
long throws, their intent was to load the box with big men, to cause
chaos. Rocha, Dawson and Berbatov did well to win headers and
Robinson started to dominate his box.
The one late chance they did get was a
Lita header in the 81st minute, from Shorey's cross, which went quickly,
but luckily for Spurs just past the outside of the post. Spurs
almost committed Hari-Kiri, when they passed the ball around the back
line until Rocha tried to play it forward and managed to kick it against
Kitson, leaving Lita with the ball, but it took him a little too wide to
do much with.
The chances missed almost cost Tottenham
a valuable three points in the chase for a European place. There
were some outstanding performances today. Jenas ran and ran, Rocha
was strong in defence, Zokora ate up the ground going forward and
chasing back and Malbranque put in a lot of work, but for me, the player
who caused Reading a lot of problems and did well to stop them getting
forward was Young-Pyo Lee. The Korean has been playing really well
of late and hopefully, will continue his good form now he has become
accustomed to the Premiership.
KIRK HAMMERTON |
Reading
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