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Having taken a battering in the first half, Spurs battled back against
Owen Coyle's Bolton Wanderers, to bring the Trotters back to White Hart
Lane for a replay in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup.
While there was still the physical element
to Bolton's play, there was also a mixture of passing on the ground and
good movement off the ball. However, their reliance on set-pieces
became their undoing, with Gomes equal to Matthew Taylor's shots and the
defence standing up reasonably well to the aerial attack from corners,
free-kicks and throw-ins. For Tottenham's part, they were not in
the first half, with Bolton closing them down as soon as they got the
ball and there were only a couple of note-worthy efforts on the Bolton
goal in the first period.
The home team started quickly.
Tottenham were thankful that Michael Dawson was alert to the danger when
an eighth minute cross came in from Lee on the right wing and he threw
himself in front of Elmander's shot to get a touch and take it wide.
Spurs had some good fortune in the first half and some of the second,
when a lot of the chances dropped for Elmander, Knight and Muamba, who
wasted the openings with wildly taken shots. Muamba did get one on
target with a volley from Dawson's clearance, but it was straight at
Gomes and Elmander was put away in the left hand channel of the penalty
area, but instead of steadying himself, he rashly shot first time and
hit the crowd with his effort. Spurs made a foray into the Bolton
half after 12 minutes and Bale was pushed inside by Lee and Ricketts,
but the Welsh defender hit a right foot shot that had power, but not
direction.
Once more Wilson Palacios' reputation
earned him a booking, when referee Phil Dowd (usually one of the more
sensible refs, but who lost it early on today and failed to be
consistent throughout) showed him yellow when he should only have had a
free-kick given against him rather than that and a caution. From
it, Taylor, placed just right of centre, curled around the wall to try
and catch Gomes out, but the Brazilian keeper was alert to it and dived
to his left to push the ball wide, with 25 minutes gone.
In typical cup0tie action, Spurs took the
play to the other end and won a corner, which Crouch flicked on and
Ledley King got to with his foot, but it was taken wide by a deflection
off a Bolton defender, giving Spurs another corner. This time, it
was pulled back outside the box to Tom Huddlestone, who hit a
full-bloodied volley, but it was wayward in it's aim. In a little
spell of pressure, Crouch shot wide and Bentley won a header against
Robinson at the far post to Bale's cross, but could not get much power
behind it and it was easy for Jaaskelainen.
Against the run of play, Bolton took the
lead in the 34th minute. While Bentley was off the pitch getting a
new shirt and treatment for a bloodied nose, Bolton broke upfield.
So, by the time the Spurs winger was back on, the home team had time to
progress to Tottenham's last third. Elmander was slipped through
on the right side of the box by a clever ball from Lee, with the Swede
pulling a low cross back to , but the ball fell to Kevin Davies and he
took an early shot that didn't have a great deal behind it, but was
placed well enough to hit the net.
Spurs had been slow to react to things up
until now and needed to sort themselves out quickly. A flowing
move saw Bentley put a low ball into the goalmouth and Ricketts slid in
to put the ball over the top, but it could have gone anywhere. it
all got a bit silly just before half-time, as Knight got booked for
hitting Bale late and then both Taylor and Defoe got yellow cards for a
running argument they were having. At the interval, Clive Allen
and some of the Spurs coaching staff had hard words for Dowd, about
Bentley not being allowed back on the pitch, although the official
claimed that he had already signalled him back on and they had not seen
it.
The half-time team talk needed something
and while Spurs have been predominantly better in the second half of
games this season, it was necessary to up the tempo and the energy
considerably to get back into the match.
However, it started much like the first
half, with Elmander getting away on the right to cross and Gomes to take
it acrobatically, while a Kevin Davies shot just caught the inside of
Dawson's thigh to go wide for a corner, with Gomes already diving the
other way. The Swedish striker had another effort coming in from
the right, but hit the side-netting and it signalled a change in
Tottenham's play. Ten minutes into the half, a high cross from the
right by Bentley to the far post found Crouch climbing and for once he
didn't have a free-kick given against him, as he rise above Jaaskelainen
and headed over him onto the bar, but there was no Spurs player handily
placed to knock it in. All game long, Dowd had given decisions
against Crouch when he had players climbing over him or one in front and
another behind to restrict his movement. In fact, the decisions
through the 90+ minutes were odd, with foot up given on a couple of
occasions, but not in the box ... perhaps unsurprisingly.
A minute later and the woodwork was
shuddering again, as Palacios made a surging run form midfield, leaving
players behind him and hitting a shot that deflected off Robinson's foot
and looped over Jaaskelainen onto the bar once more. Five minutes
later, Spurs were level. A ball down the line by Modric found Bale
and the defenders showed him inside once too often and he took them on,
bursting into the box and pulled the ball back to the penalty spot,
where Defoe took a touch and smashed the ball powerfully past the Bolton
keeper with the aid of a slight deflection. It was a goal that
didn't look like it was going to arrive, but like the one in the first
half, it looked as tough it would be coming soon.
From that point on, Tottenham had control
of the game. in the 65th minute, Bale put another ball in, that
took a flick off a Bolton player and ran back into the path of Wilson
Palacios, who was running onto the ball and hit it firs time, going for
power and not precision, resulting in the ball going very quickly over
the bar. A minute later and Defoe set up Kranjcar to fire a shot
at goal from outside the box, but the Finnish goalie was equal to it and
got enough on it to take the ball out for a corner. Then in the
70th minute a bouncing ball fell to Crouch in the Bolton box. As
he tried to bring it under control, he flicked it up and on into the
middle of the goal, but Ricketts, who was close to him, put an arm up
and the ball hit it, resulting in Dowd giving a penalty. As far as
Spurs were concerned, this was another bad decision, as we have missed
enough spot-kicks already this season and with our most competent
penalty-taker plying his trade in Scotland, it was left to Huddlestone
to step up to take it. he never really looked comfortable and his
stuttering run-up indicated he wasn't sure what to do with it. As
it was he hit it at a good height for a keeper to get and not far enough
into the corner of the goal, so Jaaskelainen had little trouble diving
to push it out and then nobody got onto the end of the rebound, which
was cleared.
Still Spurs attacked and Defoe was close
to winning the tie for Tottenham when he struck a powerful shot from
outside the penalty area, but the keeper was once more equal to the
effort and then Bale drove a ball powerfully across goal and Crouch
reacted quickly to get a touch on it with his head, but the ball went
wide once more.
Into added time both sides had late
chances, with Muamba slicing his shot well wide when it looked
threatening for a moment and then Defoe struck a dipping shot that had
Jaaskelainen rooted to the spot, but luckily for him the ball went wide
and that was about that. All back to the Lane in about 10 days
time for a replay.
Should Spurs have won this game ?
On the first half showing, they were lucky to only be one down, but the
second half was theirs and they should have tested the keeper more, as
the Bolton midfield tired from their first half exertions and the
defence shuddered when attacked either from wide positions or through
the middle.
Something must be done about the penalty
situation, as it is costing us wins in games too often now. With
the chance to go through being spurned, it will give Spurs another game
they probably could have done without, but that will be the same for
Bolton, who are in a more precarious position that us, as they need
league points and quickly.
For Spurs, this is another route into
Europe, but unless we finish teams off, we might find only home comforts
next season.
kirk hammerton |
Bolton
Wanderers
(Away)
