THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents guest writer Ciaran Griggs match report from Thursday….
“Their best defender was the crossbar…”
Spurs: Cudicini, Walker, Corluka, Bassong, Rose, Lennon, Livermore, Carroll, Dos Santos, Defoe, Pavulychenko (Subs – Townsend for Lennon, Falque for Defoe, Kane for Rose)
Here’s one I wrote earlier. “Spurs ran out easy winners against their semi-professional opponents who, having being slightly over-awed with the occasion, limply rolled over as Spurs racked up a hatful of goals in a 9-0 win”.
Before the match, the average prediction appeared to be a 5-1 home victory with, surprisingly, us conceding a goal. Surely preposterous against such inexperienced opposition? One clever Tweeter, who shall not be named, actually predicted during the match preview that our opponents would score the opener. Dreamer? Well, hmm, actually, we DID concede the first goal! (but we won, so it’s ok, you can carry on reading).
The line-up for the match was fairly predictable with perhaps the noted exceptions of three of our first-teamers. Lennon and Defoe were included amongst a youthful line-up, with the assumption that both were getting some match fitness under their belts ahead of the North London derby on Sunday. Walker, a regular first-team right-back this season also appeared, perhaps demonstrating more of a lack of cover in the position, with Corluka switching to centre-back. Danny Rose was also back after a lengthy injury lay-off, slotting into a more attack-minded left-back role. Dos Santos continued his regular EL appearances with the diminutive Tom Carroll playing the more creative midfield role. Up front, we played our strongest non-Adebayor strikeforce with Defoe and Pavulychenko added a large dollop of experience. This was a vastly more experienced side than the team which achieved a credible 0-0 draw away to PAOK in the first group game. Coupled with our opponents being a semi-professional side, our players should have been expecting to fill their boots.
Spurs started well, with Dos Santos enjoying a more free role than on previous outings, appearing on both wings as well as in more central positions, giving the Rovers defence plenty to think about. Carroll also had a decent start to the match, finding time in the middle and spreading plenty of passes around the pitch, most often to Rose, who found himself in space on the left on a number of occasions. Defoe and Pavuylchenko were quiet until the 17th minute when Defoe, having been set free in the area applied his tradition power > finesse finish and blazed a shot at the keeper which ended up deflected onto the bar and over. A signal of intent? Rose also rattled the woodwork later in the half with an instinctive half-volley from 20-yards out. Lennon showed some flashes without ever displaying his best form. Our defence was hardly troubled by the Irish attack throughout the half and a decent half of football was brought to a close with the game still goalless, 0-0.
The second half began with lots of expectant noises from the Spurs fans. Lennon made way for Townsend, clearly a move designed to save Lennon’s fitness for Sunday afternoon’s grudge match. Spurs were left reeling however, as only 5 minutes into the newly-birthed second half, Rovers scored an unlikely goal. A stinging free-kick was saved by Cudicini but he could only parry the ball straight back into play and via a clever touch from Rice, diverting Twigg’s long-range effort into the goal! 1-0 Rovers and the away fans were in dreamland. Rovers have an annual budget of 600k EUR. A victory would have been worth 140k EUR, so Rovers were giving their all, could they hold on for 40 minutes?
Townsend was having a big impact and with Carroll continuing to impress in the middle, Townsend began to terrorise the Rovers right-back, making a series of penetrating runs down the left-wing combining pace and trickery. For this writer, Townsend was our best player on the night, and with the score at 1-0, he began to energise the Spurs team. 10 minutes after Rovers took the lead, Spurs finally responded with Dos Santos, another decent performer on the night, whipping in a cross from the left which Pavs, having left his shooting boots at home, thumped home emphatically with his head. Not content with breaking Rovers hearts, Spurs scored a second only a minute later. This time Townsend made the move down the left, belting over a cross which Defoe, after some clever movement in front of the Rovers centre-half, headed home to give Spurs the lead. 2 crosses, 2 headed goals, the memory of Peter Crouch lives on. Except we scored.
Spurs fans were in full voice now and a rout was on the cards. 5 minutes after taking the lead, a clearly pumped up Defoe gathered the ball in our left-back positions and executed a run diagonally across the pitch, 72 yards in total, before releasing Dos Santos to the right of the goal. Dos Santos beat the final defender to the ball, smashing home the ball with his left foot, through the keeper and into the roof of the net. 3-1 Spurs and game over.
For the remaining 20 minutes, the game was fairly uneventful. Spurs gave some game time to both Falque and Kane, allowing Rose and Defoe to have a rest after playing matches post injury. Neither had enough time to significantly impress but valuable first-team experience was gained. On the night, Dos Santos, Townsend and Carroll all had good matches. The first two boosted our attacking options on the night, offering genuine threat. Carroll looks like he has the potential to go on and become a midfield string-puller but development physically is needed before he rivals even Luka for size.
So what should Spurs fans take from this game? Firstly, we won, a fact that sometimes seems to get sidelined amongst soundbites and player reviews. Secondly, our young players gained more valuable game time. Thirdly, the performance was an improvement on that from PAOK. Very few negatives from the match, a home victory.
Lastly, if you’ve managed to read all of this without thinking of Sunday then you’re a better man than me. And I wrote it.
COYS
Ciaran Griggs (@LordFIMM on Twitter)
Don’t forget Stuart’s preview of the NLD right here
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