South Coast Big Club (Away) 18.03.2023

The game got off to a cracking start with Porro’s cross just too long for Son to get a volley on goal, with the ball squirting off his foot and then Stuart Armstrong latched onto Elyanoussi’s pull-back and hit a shot at goal that Clement Lenglet did well to block.  That all happened inn the first three minutes, then Richarlison went down and had to be taken off with Dejan Kulusecski coming on, with the Brazilian looking in some pain.  While this was happening, Bella-Kotchap was down at the Saints end with what appeared to be a shoulder injury and he had to be replaced by Mohammed Salisu.

When play finally got underway, Ward-Prowse and Porro both had two efforts that failed to trouble the keepers, while Harry Kane had to go it alone when Son ran offside, but his shot flew too high.  A Spurs corner was cleared, but Bendarek was left floored and play stopped again before the Polish central defender went off before returning to the pitch, but it was a short-lived return being replaced by Maitland-Niles.  With all the interruptions, there wasn’t to much joined-up play going on, but when Ben Davies threaded a ball across to Kane, his shot was blocked before SCBC had made their second sub, which was followed shortly by Davies having to leave the pitch and Ivan Perisic coming on.

Tottenham did create a good chance when Ward-Prowse stood too far off Heung-Min Son and he performed a step-over and flash a shot across Bazunu that went just wide of the far post with eight minutes of the first half left.  The home team had a couple of corners, which Tottenham dealt with, not always convincingly when Fraser Forster went to stop a header back across the box getting to Walcott, but managed to carry it off the pitch.  However, the fourth official held the board up showing 7 (seven) minutes of added time, but Dier played a ball square to Lenglet inside the Tottenham half and the Frenchman found Son in the left hand channel, halfway in the SCBC half.  Looking up, he found Pedro Porro in acres of space on the right, just outside the box and with only Bazunu to beat, he rocketed his shot high into the roof of the net from six yards out.  It was only 26 seconds into added time and SCBC’s left back Perraud had moved into the middle, leaving so much space for Porro to exploit and to score his first Spurs goal. 

Spurs were sleepy at the start of the second half and conceded in the first minute.  A quick free-kick sent Lavia away and his pass caught out Porro, giving Walcott the opportunity to provide the chance for Che Adams to score, which he took into the bottom left-hand corner.  It wasn’t what Tottenham needed having taken a lead in added time before half-time, but it was loose defending that allowed the home side in. 

Salisu clattered Son, but play went on and came to nothing, with the referee only speaking to the Saints defender rather than pulling out the yellow card that he should have shown.  It was a worry that the other side were getting in behind our defence, with Kyle Walker-Peters crossing across goal and then a free-kick for handball just outside the box was placed by Ward-Prowse, who couldn’t get it down quick enough, with Tottenham pleased to see the ball go over the bar.  Perisic had two quick chances in the same move when Porro picked him out and his effort was blocked, then the same pair linked up with the Croatian volleying too high.  Out of nothing, VAR decided to earn their keep by looking at a potential handball in the block to Perisic’s first shot, but it was very close and there didn’t seem to be much of a shout from anyone for a penalty.

Harry Kane was obviously keen to break this run of not scoring outside London that he was on, but when Tottenham broke four on three, he went alone as the SCBC players backed off him and shot from a couple of yards outside the box, again, not being able to keep it down.  Harry was involved again, trying to play a one-two with Son, but it was nicked away to Kulusevski, whose shot got blocked and in a flash, the home team hit Spurs on the break, but Oliver Skipp got in the way of Adams’ shot.  With 35 minutes left, Kane got his usual goal against the Saints.  Spurs moved the ball down the right touchline and Kulusevski jinked to make some space and curled a left foot cross in from the right wing and with Kane pulling onto Walker-Peters and Maitland-Niles, he out-jumped them to plant his header into the keeper’s top right-hand corner of the goal to restore Tottenham’s lead.  

It was a goal that didn’t look like it was going to come, but having the lead, Spurs now needed to hold onto it.  Forster made a comfortable stop from Ward-Prowse’s low effort from outside the box and then had to make a good stop when a cross from the right was cleared and Perraud drilled a shot at goal, although the ball was put back out into a dangerous area, but the home team couldn’t capitalise.  Tottenham did make the most of the opportunity that presented itself in the 74th minute.  A cross from the right by Kulusevski was headed away by Maitland-Niles, but it only reached the 18 yard line, where Ivan Perisic hit the bouncing ball into the ground and it went past Bazunu on its way up and into the net.  It was a first goal in Spurs colours for the Croatian and could not have come at a better time as the one goal margin looked as though it could be taken away if SCBC got a bit of luck.

Fraser Forster made a very good save when Maitland-Niles let fly from 25 yards out and the Spurs keeper tipped the ball over as he dived up to his left, but when the corner was taken, the ball was recycled and knocked back into the box, where Mara headed the ball down to an unmarked Walcott, who swept the ball past Forster.  It was just three minutes after we had got our third and all of a sudden, it was back to being one goal in front with 23 minutes plus added time to play … and it was the home team who now had the momentum.

Forster had to be sharp to get down to a Mara shot and then grab the ball to avert any danger, but another corner with just two of the 90 left dropped in the box and substitute Pape Matar Sarr went to clear it and Maitland-Niles came from behind him and went down like a sack of spuds.  Replays showed that it wasn’t clear either way whether or not there had been enough contact, but the referee didn’t take another look, relying on the VAR team to confirm his decision.  Ward-Prowse stuck the ball in the keeper’s top left corner and even though his ex-team mate went the right way, he couldn’t reach it and that levelled the score at 3-3.

There was still some added time to play and it was Tottenham who looked the more likely, as they pushed forward.  Some possession around the edge of the box saw the ball come out to Sarr, who wanted to make amends, but shanked his shot well wide and in the final action of the match, Perisic crossed and Lenglet sent a flying header just wide of the right hand angle of the keeper’s goal.

So, a capitulation that cost us two points, but compared to last season’s result there, it was no different to what we picked up then.  It is disturbing that Spurs are unable to hold onto a two goal lead against the bottom side for 25 minutes who were playing with a replacement pair of central defenders, but SCBC were battling for every point they could get.  Conte’s outburst in the press conference after the game hid not only his inability to affect the game with his substitutions, but also his failure to control the team, who looked as if they were dropping deeper, which is never a good thing for Tottenham, as we have seen before that they are not equipped to defend a lead and would be much better going to kill off the game.  What is more worrying is that we have games against better sides to come and will need more resilience to see games out should we establish a lead.

Missed chances resulted in us missing the chance to over take Manchester United, who were in FA Cup action and to earn vital points if we are trying to win a place in the top four by getting points in the bag rather than Newcash’s games in hand.  Making the most of these opportunities seems to be our downfall.

Stanford Rivers

• Ivan Perisic scores his first goal for Tottenham.
• Pedro Porro scored his first Tottenham goal.
• Heung-Min Son set up Porro’s goal and it was his 50th assist in the Premier League.
• It was only the second time in Premier League history that each side substituted two players in the first half of a match.
• Harry Kane’s goal was his tenth away goal of the season in the Premier League – the seventh time he has achieved this landmark.
• Kane’s goal made it nine with his head this season, which equals Duncan Ferguson’s Premier League record for the most headed goals in a season.