Heart of Midlothian (Away) 17.07.2024

Five minutes into the game, Hearts got the ball in midfield after some loose defending by Spurs and broke forward, giving Yan Dhanda the chance to play the ball square from the left for Devlin, who could only lift his first-time shot over the bar from just inside the box.  Tottenham had to defend a couple of dogged attacks by the home side, conceding a couple of corners, but there was little danger arising from them, but we only had a couple of shots that hit defenders and a fine pass by Maddison inside the Hearts left back to allow Porro to cross towards the far post, where Solomon was just beaten to the ball.

Brando Austin made a fine save in the 19th minute, when a corner was headed out, then headed back into the middle of the six yard box and Tagawa flicked it on, with the Spurs keeper making a reflex save to tip the ball over the bar.  It looked as though there should have been an offside flag, but without VAR it might have stood had it gone in.  Another new Hearts signing – the Costa Rica international right back Gerald Taylor – was bombing up the right wing and hassled Skipp into turning the ball over when he had been robbed of it, then he put in a cross to the centre of the penalty area, where Tagawa swung on to it with a volley that flew past Austin’s left hand post.   For a friendly, even though Hearts only have 17 days to go until their first match, Devlin was crashing into tackles, leaving Maddison nursing some studs in his foot from a late tackle that was nowhere near the ball.

Tottenham’s best chance came when linked with Son, whose shot was well saved by Gordon who managed to push it over the bar after Maddison and Kulusevski had created the opening.  Just before the half-hour, Devlin again brought Maddison down, five yards outside the box when he had lost the ball, but the subsequent free-kick by our number 10 only found the face of defender Frankie Kent, formerly of Colchester and Peterborough.  The impact the ball made eventually led to the substitution of the defender after lengthy treatment.

Oda was flopping to ground at the slightest touch and the referee wasn’t falling for it as easily as the Japanese striker was, but he was also letting Devlin’s physical approach go, as he did Gray’s lunge to win a tackle that punctured the ball !!  When Tagawa was involved without the ball he was more effective and another right wing run by Taylor picked out the striker with his cross, but with only Austin to beat, he somehow managed to guide his shot wide from close range.  Brennan Johnson was getting some space on the right wing, but was being well defended by Rowles.  After Spurs had made nothing of another corner, Maddison quickened things up on the right, playing the ball into the feet of Kulusevski on the corner of the box and he played a look-away reverse pass for James to run onto and put in a fierce low ball just beyond the near post and Johnson came into to volley it in with his right foot from a couple of yards out with Rowles getting left behind by his run.

The goal seemed to open up the game, with Hearts attacking but Porro doing well to see the ball off a Hearts player for a goal-kick and then Solomon played a fine square ball into Son in the area, but his first touch took the ball onto his standing leg and it ran off for a goal-kick.  Porro then popped up in the box, with space and time, but he couldn’t keep his shot down as he leaned back and Hearts escaped. 

A new eleven took the field for Spurs at the interval, but it wasn’t the restart that the assortment of Tottenham fringe players and youngsters wanted.  Trying to play the ball out from the back, Emerson Royal tried to play it across from the right to the middle just inside the area, but it hit Dhanda’s outstretched leg and fell for Lawrence Shankland, who had just come on, but had the easiest of tasks to slide the ball past the Spurs substitute keeper Alfie Whiteman.  It was a sloppy goal to give away and coming 30 seconds after kick off, it left the good work of the first half undone straight away.

Fortunately, Spurs re-took the lead within ten minutes.  Djed Spence made a run infield from the right and slipped a pass into the box with the outside of his right foot that gave Will Lankshear the opportunity to slip it past sub keeper Clark from eight yards out.  It was good to see Spence doing what we thought he was going to do when he was signed from Middlesbrough, but also great for Lankshear’s confidence to translate what he has been doing for the Under-21s  into the first team.

Having over-come the disappointment of conceding early on in the half, the younger Tottenham side were showing energy and skill in laying siege to the Hearts goal, with the home side unable to get the ball clear.  Flocking around the maroon shirted players on the ball as vigorously as the seagulls overhead, some neat skill inside the Hearts box set up a shot from Mikey Moore, that he was just unable to keep down from a position to the right inside the box.  When Bergvall slipped Mikey in on the right inside the box, the 16 year old took the defenders inside, then turned outside before drilling a low shot across the keeper to record Tottenham’s third goal.  Another memorable moment, with Moore scoring his first senior goal, albeit in a friendly, but Hearts are a big, strong side, as are most teams in the Scottish Premier League, so to do it against men counts for a lot.

Five minutes later, Spurs launched a move that freed Timo Werner on the left wing and he slid a ball across the six-yard box, where there were three white shirts converging on it, with Djed Spence getting the run on his marker at the far post to put the ball over the line for 4-1.  Playing in an inverted right-back role, Spence was enjoying his chance to get some playing time in the first team following the breakdown of his proposed move to Genoa and he was looking the part.  He almost set up a fifth, with a low ball in from the right that Alejo Veliz got on the end of and in space, but stretching, he could only put it too high.  The Argentine striker then had to leave the field as he had picked up a nose bleed from somewhere … probably being so far forward on a football pitch following a loan spell at Seville last season when he was rarely used.  His time on the pitch didn’t last long, as he was replaced by Dane Scarlett. 

With the young players enjoying themselves, a short corner was worked for Bergvall to whip in a wicked cross that Dane Scarlett headed at goal from inside the six yard box, looking suspiciously offside.  Clark reacted well to keep it out, but he could only push it to his tight where Ashley Phillips, who was up for the corner, prodded it over the line by the post.  The exercise of this friendly was proving invaluable in an attacking sense, but apart from the Hearts goal, there had been little for the Spurs side to do in their defensive third of the pitch.

To rub salt into the wound, a ball up to Mikey Moore on the halfway line, tight to the side-line, was flicked up in the air and he turned away from his marker, leaving him on the floor and ran toward goal, only being stopped by a sly nudge in the back five yards outside the penalty area.  He certainly doesn’t lack confidence and it is not hard to see why he is so highly rated.  With a minute to go, Alfie Devine slid a pass for Scarlett to run through and take the ball wide of the keeper, but it was a bit too wide and his attempted shot was powered over the bar from wide to the right of the goal.

A first run-out of the pre-season gave 24 players some playing time and many of those who got on the pitch took their chance with good performances.  There’s still five more matches before the Premier League kicks off, so plenty of time for players to build on what they did tonight and to fine tune the way the team functions when everyone is back on board.

Purcell Cole

• The Tottenham players did not have their names on their shirts.