South Coast Big Club (Home) 06.04.2025

The sun beat down in a warm April afternoon on the pitch that saw SCBC clad in pink run out with Spurs having re-instated Ben Davis alongside Romero with Micky van de Ven starting on the bench.  Djed Spence switched to left back and Brennan Johnson came in on the right of the attack, with Bentancur, Maddison and Bergvall in midfield.

Tottenham had possession for almost all of the first three minutes, with the visiting side only getting the odd touch on the ball or an occasional clearance without getting the ball under their spell.  The possession was broken up by the weakest of free kicks for a supposed foul on KWP but it didn’t appear that Djed did any holding, but was just getting close to him to stop him turning away with the ball.  If the bar was being set this low, we should have been in for an eventful afternoon.  SCBC were sitting deep, although three men pressed when we were in possession at the back, although there was little co-ordination to it, allowing Spurs to play around them and find space further forward to run into.

Dominic Solanke had an early shot blocked from a Maddison pull-back and when Son did the same for Brennan Johnson, his shot was blocked too.  Spurs were winning the ball back off the SCBC players and winning corners off them too.  One on the ninth minute taken by Pedro Porro was me by a diving header from an unmarked Cristian Romero was saved by Ramsdale, as it was straight at him.  Lucas Bergvall had an opportunity when he exchanged passes with Johnson on the right corner of the box and then shimmied inside a defender, but wasn’t able to get any power into his shot that dribbled through for the keeper to save. 

Coming into the 12th minute, the pink shirts found space wide right and KWP played Dibling into the right side wide in the box from where he lifted a cross to the far post, where Sulemana was free to volley at goal.  A vital touch by Porro kept the ball out although it hit the post.  It looked as though Guglielmo Vicario probably had it covered, but it was a worry as this was the first time SCBC got an effort on goal and it was a dangerous one.  This lead to a period of passing around 25-30 yards area until an attempted ball into the box save Vicario come out low to claim the ball. 

It proved a pivotal point in the match, as Spurs worked the ball out from Romero to Maddison on halfway who released Son on the left wing, having Spence over-lapping outside him.  Djed’s run and the short pass to him was perfectly timed for the ball to be pulled back to the penalty spot and Brennan came onto it to sweep it left-footed into the net to Ramsdale’s right with the keeper not being able to move (which became a bit of a recurring theme throughout the match).  It was good to see our trademark goal set-up back in operation and it was well-taken by Johnson, whose intelligent run had filled the gap between Manning and Ugochukwu.  There was some concern that Solanke may have been given offside, but he wasn’t impairing the goalkeeper’s view, it was just that Ramsdale wasn’t good enough to react to it.

A free-kick to the away side on the left wing was swung in, headed clear and then shot back in weakly, but it went straight at Ugochukwu standing level the penalty spot and seemingly onside, with the midfielder trying to deflect it on target, but failing miserably and the ball ended up going about six yards wide.  Ugochukwu, who was having a stinker, passed the ball straight off the pitch instead of to a team-mate five yards away, then took down Maddison from behind with a bad challenge that on what had gone before should have been a booking.  SCBC were happy just o kick the ball away from their defensive third with no attempt to find a fellow pink shirt, but Spurs were pressing forward and picking up free-kicks for panicky fouls and Porro’s deep one caused Ramsdale to come for it, but mis-judge his punch, with the ball fortunately going off for a throw.  Fernandez threw a physical block on Bergvall as he chopped the ball past him, but play was allowed to go on and we won another corner. 

Ramsdale showed that he was equally inept with his feet, when a back-pass across the box was allowed to run a long way forcing him to hurry a pass that went straight out of play.  His next ball out with his feet went beyond his intended target of KWP so Dibling had to run back to stop it going out, but from an offside position.  The referee showed his inconsistent demands about where free-kicks and throw-ins were taken when Ben Davies put the ball down inside the SCBC half to take the resulting free-kick !!  On the half-hour Ugochukwu got his belated yellow card for pulling back Maddison by his shirt.  The free-kick was spread right for Porro to cross to the far post, where the flying Romero met the ball with the full meat of his forehead.  Ramsdale managed to save it using his face to stop the ball, so play had to be stopped to give him treatment for concussion.  While that was going on KWP got a round of applause form the lower East Stand and tried to surreptitiously move the ball forward 25 yards, but at least the referee had spotted that.

A high challenge on Porro by Ugochukwu went without further punishment and another free-kick was given.  It was from one that Fernandes pulled down Porro as he burst away form him that resulted in a cross into the box that Romero won at the far post, heading the ball sideways back across the six yard line, where Bergvall stretched out a leg to hook the ball the way it had come from on the volley past Harwood-Bellend in front of him to find the right side of Ramsdale’s goal, who had gone too far the other way to recover his ground and failed to reach the ball.  Following Ange’s statement about celebrating a goal too soon, it was the best part of five minutes wait for VAR official Graham Scott to rule it out for offside against Romero, who had a shoulder beyond the last man.  Will semi-automated offside make this process quicker next week ?  Surely, it can’t make it any longer.  After the match the reverse angle showed clearly that Romero was beyond the last man where they stopped the video, while the angle from Porro’s side of the pitch was more dubious.  The boos that met the long wait where nobody was being told what was happening was followed by SCBC fans singing “It’s only 1-0” when it was disallowed.  The decision with lines drawn was shown fleetingly on the big screens, but not long enough to have a decent look to see how offside Cristian had been.

A long high ball was pumped forward to the edge of the Spurs box and Vicario had two bites at getting it as Archer jumped into him, but fell on the ball when it came to ground.  Johnson then played a ball into Solanke’s feet that he did ever so well to take away from Bendarek, feeding Rodrigo Bentancur out on the right wing.  His cross was headed up in the air by a defender to stop Bergvall throwing himself on the end of it and Dom bumped Harwood-Bellend out of the way.  As he had done all game, the SCBC defender tried to pull Solanke back, favouring the use of his arms to stop defenders over using his feet, but the ball bounced up and with the two engaged in some physical contact, James Maddison nipped in to deftly head the ball forward from inside the D to where Brennan had run past Bendarek and Manning to knock the ball gently past the keeper (whose feet were once again rooted to the spot) with a flick of the outside of his right boot.  Again, it was a smart finish and a nice little set-up by Madders.  It was enough to prompt a lot of Saints fans to head for the exits.

Sulemana did well to wriggle past two defenders, but he could not get past the sliding challenge from Bentancur that left him writhing on the ground in the box, but this had been typical of Rodrigo doing his tidying up work.  Nothing too spectacular, but the bits and pieces that need to be done to allow others to play.  At times, the game was so pedestrian, it was like a practice match with little atmosphere in the ground other than the shouts of the players shouting to each other.  The seven added minutes because of the long VAR delay brought a low bobbling shot from Fernandes that Vicario got down behind with ease and Solanke held off two players (one of whom was Ugochukwu, who was pulling him back already on a booking) to poke the ball forward down the left for Spence, who looked second favourite to reach it.  However, he was too strong for Dibling and took the ball off him on the corner of the area to then try to lift a shot into the far corner, but the keeper made a save to stop it getting that far.

A sharp first half gave Spurs a couple of goals and it could have been a few more, but there had been only one moment of danger on our goal, with the Saints players scurrying off at half-time to get some much needed instruction about how to get back into the match.

When the second half kicked off, the first thing that happened after SCBC passed the ball backwards was that Harwood-Bellend tried to stop Dom closing down by grabbing him with both hands.  Point proven about the central defender., who unbelievably is in the England squad.  This was quickly followed by the award of a free-kick to them when KWP turned and fell over, seemingly without a Tottenham player touching him.  The away side enjoyed more possession at the start of the half, but Maddison picked a pass out to Son, but it pushed him a little wide to the left and Bendarek had the chance to get across to block his shot once he was in the area.  When the Saints looked to have a promising situation, Romero stepped in to intercept a pass to Fernandes on the edge of the D and played it up to Solanke, who again did well to turn away from two players (Bendarek and Harwood-Bellend) to find Cristian continuing his run ahead of him.  Possibly offside, he lost his bearings a bit and surrounded by four pink shirts didn’t know what to do with it and eventually went down hoping to get a free-kick.  He didn’t !

Porro got booked for tripping Manning which was fair enough, but when Harwood-Bellend was hitting Solanke every time he got the ball, it was a little inconsistent by the referee.  Sarr and Odobert came on for Son and Bentancur, with SCBC making a couple of subs too and these changes were followed by a ball forward for Solanke, which he out-muscled Harwood-Bellend to and turned with the ball to get a shot off form the 18 yard line.  It was low to the keeper’s left and he got down to it to push it wide, but Dom chased after it with the keeper getting to it on the left hand side of his box, but slid out of the area, then handled the ball to stop Solanke taking it off him.  The keeper then went over hoping he would get a free-kick, but it was a deliberate handball that deserved a yellow card, because it wasn’t stopping a goal-scoring opportunity.  It was all very straightforward what should have happened, but the referee showed how low the standard has dropped that he didn’t show the yellow card for the offence.

The second half was a non-event really.  Few chances during the middle section of the 45 with Spurs stepping off the gas to rest up for Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final and SCBC trying hard but not achieving much (the story of their season).  Sulemana was perhaps the biggest threat, with a chance 12 minutes form the end of normal time when he came in off the left and fired a shot across Vicario, but he beat it out and Ugochukwu came flying in to try and get the follow-up shot, but completely missed the ball (their story of their season really).  Spurs looked to break, but not for the first time, Harwood-Bellend went through the back of him to leave him on the floor in the centre-circle.  The Saints central defender seems to think that he is a John Terry type character and in some ways he is, as he gets away with murder.

Substitute Sugawara went down in the box when Spence challenged him, but you don’t get a penalty by being knocked over by somebody’s bum hitting you.  Another substitute was Paul Onuachu (Bless you), who is 6’8″ and another sounded like Rod Stewart over the PA, but turned out to be somebody called called Ross Stewart (?).  Meanwhile the Spurs sub bench was emptying with Bissouma and Gray replacing Maddison and Bergvall.  As the away fans sang “Que Sera Sera, Whatever will be will be, Were going to Coventry”, (although that depends on the play-offs I would imagine) Solanke had one shot blocked and another struck wide as Odobert put him in left of centre before making way for Tel in the 87th minute.  Vicario had to get down smartly to a low shot from inside the box from Fernandes, who then took down a cross from the left from Sulemana in the 90th minute, firing low under Vicario after drifting in behind Spence.   There was all sorts of excitement that SCBC might avoid relegation and the tag of the worst Premier League team ever as they wished for an equaliser.

They pushed forward looking to make it 2-2, but loose passes cost them any forward momentum and when Odobert dispossessed Fernandes just inside the Saints half, he was away.  Taking it up to Harwood-Bellend, he played a pass to his right, where Johnson  was faced up by substitute Welington, who looked as though that was what he was wearing, as Brennan went past him, just nudging the ball away before a poor challenge brought him down and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.  As expected there was a lot of protests from the pink shirts, with Johnson wanting to take it to get his first ever Premier League hat-trick, but Romero took the ball and handed it to Tel, who must have been the preferred taker when others were off the pitch.  He stepped up, stuttered and put the ball high to Ramsdale’s left to find the net and put SCBC’s Premier League tenure to an end with what turned out to be almost the last kick of the match,  There was just time to restart before their fate was confirmed.

While it is pleasing to get a 3-1 win after so long since a home win (the last one was back in February and it was Man United), it was against one of the poorest teams we have played this season, but it gives a bit of confidence for the Eintracht Frankfurt game in midweek.  Bentancur had a good game and I was impressed by Vic’s catching rather than choosing to punch today.  It neutralises any danger and gives an opportunity to start an attack, if players make themselves available.  The off the ball movement was much better today and maybe that was because SCBC were so bad, that there was plenty of space to move into and not much pressure when you got there.  Bergvall made some good runs, Spence was lively down the left with Johnson in the right place at the right time to get his goals.  There wasn’t too much for the defence to do, but on the whole they dealt with things well.  It was pleasing that Tel got his first PL goal and was confident from the penalty spot, even though Johnson looked miffed that he didn’t get to complete his hat-trick, bit Romero obviously felt it was more important to get the win under our belts.

As for the opposition, it is not hard to see how they are heading back down and it may be a while before they re-appear in the PL.  They have some shockingly bang-average players and a fair few bad ones.  How they will fare next season depends on what recruitment they can attract in the summer, as a re-build is needed.  Their shirt sponsor was a bit too close to Rollover, which is what they have done for the majority of this campaign.  It was pleasing to hand Ramsdale his third career relegation and it is getting to be quite a habit that we are sending teams down these days, with Burnley, Leeds and now SCBC all being finished off by us.  I have to say that I was looking forward to see what all the fuss about Tyler Dibling was about, but on this showing, he is NOT a £100 million player.  Not that he had much to work with, having to spend a lot of his time chasing Djed Spence towards his own goal and without quality players around him, it was a struggle that saw him replaced after 62 minutes.

So, the same issues remain in the game.  VAR is an issue, referees don’t seem to be able to keep consistent for 90+ minutes, we have another match coming up on Thursday and at least the injury list is still diminishing, with Richarlison back on the bench.  We can hope for a golden end to the season, but there is still a long way to go.

• Both teams took the knee before kick-off.
• South Coast Big Club had the honour of becoming the team to be relegated to the Championship at the earliest point in the season (with seven games remaining) having been beaten 3-1 today by Spurs.
• Mathys Tel (19 years and 244 days) became the first teenager to score for Tottenham in the Premier League since Dele Alli (19 years and 365 days) v Mancashter United in April 2016.
• Tel became only the second teenager since Nick Barmby (aged 19years and 296 days) v Newcash United to score a Premier League penalty.
• This was the 50th match between Spurs and South Coast Big Club in the Premier League.
• Mathys Tel’s penalty was the 100th Premier League goal against South Coast Big Club.
• Brennan Johnson’s second goal was his 50th in English league football (Lincoln City, Nottingham Forest & Spurs).
• Heung-Min Son made his 450th appearance for Tottenham.