| Match report
With each game in the run-in
adopting more importance as the season's end approaches, it was a
relief to come out of this visit to Newcastle United with a 3-1 win
thanks to a Harry Kane double confirming victory after the home side
had levelled Heung-Min Son's earlier strike in the second half.
Much of the win was as much due to Newcastle's awful finishing (22
shots, 6 on target) as to the clinical finishing of our forwards (8
shots, 5 on target) and some solid defending from the often generous
Spurs back-line.
With points needed for any
hope of European football, Spurs went into the game with the same
side as for the Arsenal game on Sunday. Newcastle were almost
safe in lower mid-table and they had to field some players who would
not be first choice, because of their horrendous injury list.
That was a list that was growing as the game went on.
Spurs kicked off, but it was
Newcastle who had the first attempts on goal with Miguel Almiron
having a header blocked for a corner, fro which he was in space in
the box, but his shot fro the low ball in troubled only the people
retrieving the ball from the back of the lower tier in the Leazes
stand. The Magpies were moving the ball better than Spurs in
the opening stages, although they weren't troubling the Tottenham
defence too much. Shelvey hit a 30 yard free-kick straight at
Lloris, with the Spurs captain quickly kicking upfield resulting in
Giovani Lo Celso having a shot at goal that deflected wide for a
corner. Toby Alderweireld blocked a Saint-Maximin shot after a
run from 45 yards out that earned Newcastle another corner, which
did not produce anything, although when Ritchie went down their left
wing, his cross did find Shelvey's shaven head only for it to be
nodded over the bar.
Hugo was then forced to save
from Saint-Maximin's low shot just at the foot of his right hand
post and then Spurs went on the attack with Aurier's ball inside a
defender giving Lucas Moura the opportunity to put a low ball into
the near post area. Schar intercepted the ball in the box, but
in his attempt to run it out of the area, his heavy touch allowed
Lucas to win it off him and the ball was moved inside to Kane, who
played it left to Lo Celso in the D. In turn, he played it to
his left where Heung-Min Son shaped to go outside Yedlin, but
shifted the ball inside onto his right foot and struck a shot
between the ex-Spurs defender's legs and inside Dubravka's right
hand post to put Spurs ahead with their first shot on target of the
game. It was a typical move from Son and one that paid
dividends to hand Tottenham an unexpected lead on 27 minutes.
The goal seemed to spurs the
team and Son in particular. Aurier, playing despite the murder
of his brother two days before, passed in from the right to Moura,
who played it to Son, 25 yards out and he arrowed in a shot that
took a slight deflection off Krafth and was heading goalwards until
Dubravka reached up in his dive to tip the ball away from the top
left hand corner. It was a very good save and came moments
after Sonny had curled an effort inches wide from a bit closer in.
Yellow cards came for Alderweireld for a foul on Ritchie and
Fernandez for a bad foul on Gio, while in between Shelvey put a shot
wide across the Spurs box and after the bookings, Ritchie shot wide,
Saint-Maximin had a shot saved by Hugo and then the home team went
the closest they had so far, when Shelvey's right-wing cross was
glanced at the near post by Dwight Gayle and it went across the goal
to bounce out off the far post with Lloris stranded.
That was three minutes
before the break and they were played out with a succession of
free-kicks for each side, with only the final one that brought a
shooting opportunity for Moura, but he couldn't keep it down and it
flew high and wide. So, at the break, it was 1-0 to Spurs and
maybe that was hard on Newcastle, but the chances they had created
rarely caused much concern apart for the one that hit the post.
A the start of the second
half, Spurs looked threatening and Aurier slid a good ball across
the goalmouth without a blue shirt there to tuck it away, then
Winksy won the ball from Saint-Maximin and GLC broke away leading a
four on four break, but, as usual, we managed to hash it up with a
pass hitting Lo Celso and giving United the chance to clear the ball.
With ten minutes of the half gone, Newcastle broke on the right and
Serge Aurier knocked the ball away from substitute Lazaro as he
burst into the box from the right, but unfortunately, it ran
straight into the path of Ritchie coming in from the left and he
rifled a shot past Lloris' dive to his left. It was a
blistering shot and was near unstoppable.
Being level didn't last long
for Newcastle, as, just like in the last Spurs game, letting a goal
in prompted a response and three minutes later, Kane was on hand to
restore the lead. The move started at the back, with Davinson
Sanchez passing to Winks, who fed the ball up the right wing to
Bergwijn. With no pressure to close him down, he picked out a
cross that found Harry dropping off Krafth and heading the ball back
the way it came to leave Dubravka helpless from the edge of the six
yard box in the middle of the goal. It was a classy move by
Kane to find the space and it was a peach of a cross to evade the
defender and pick out our main man for the 200th goal of his in his
350th match, a testament to his goal-scoring ability.
Newcastle looked to get back
level, but when their danger man Saint Maximin tricked some space
for a shot, he drilled it too high, as most of the home side's shots
ended up being. Shelvey picked up his traditional card in
Spurs games with a nasty rake of his studs down the back of
Bergwijn's calf and Davies was booked for a foul when Saint-Maximin
looked to get away from him, after the French striker had beaten
three Spurs players.
With substitutions made, the
game was a little disrupted, but in the 89th minute, Lazaro's ball
across the pitch 20 yards from the Tottenham goal was cut out by
Erik Lamela and he fed it forward 10 yards to Kane. Harry
turned Fernandez in the centre circle, returning the ball to Lamela,
who was now ten yards inside the Newcastle half. He took the
ball forward, tracked by Ritchie, but he turned him outside and
inside in the box, before shooting. The keeper did well to
beat out the shot from six yards out to the left of the goal, but
Harry Kane was on hand to score with a diving header that saw him
collide with Fernandez and end up holding his side, while the
scoreboard showed a 3-1 score-line in Tottenham's favour. Kane
was OK, as the only damage was done to Newcastle's goal difference
as Spurs were assured of three points in their quest to finish in a
position that would bring Europa League football.
It was a much more promising
performance from Spurs, with some very good finishing and a
successful breakaway goal at the death. Defensively, the team
allowed Newcastle to have shots, but luckily, they were poor when it
came to the final third and aside from Gayle's header that hit the
woodwork, there were few anxious moments. You have to remember
it was only Newcastle, but you can only beat what is in front of you
and Spurs did just that. Although we have a good recent record
at their ground (apart from that end of season thrashing a few
seasons back), teams change and the Geordies were on a good home run
and we have been dodgy away, so it was a welcome win and one that
helps us move back nearer the top six.
Two games to go and six
points would be great and would be a great finish to the season.
Let's do it !
Matt Anderson |
