South Coast Big Club (away) 28.12.2021

The Christmas fixture list, injuries and the Omicron variant meant rotation for both sides on a chilly South Coast afternoon as Spurs lined up to face the Big Club from down that way.  

Spurs were slow starting the match and Saints had two chances in the first ten minutes. Kyle Walker-Peters crossed from the right both times and Long firstly headed wide from the  edge of the six yard box (he was offside anyway) and then Armstrong couldn’t get behind the ball and it looped up into Lloris’ hands.  Walker-Peters was caught out at the other end by Kane’s pass from the middle to the left and the former Spurs right back pulled back the current Spurs left back Reguilon. A booking for KWP and a free-kick for Spurs were the referee’s decision, with Davies heading Son’s delivery into the net, but he was flagged offside.

Harry Winks dithered on the ball on the edge of the Spurs box and lost control of it, but he got back to cut out the pass into the box that followed.  However in the 25th minute, a long throw bounced out to Ward-Prowse from Alli’s clearance and he drove the ball in from inside the box and you could hardly say that their performance to that point didn’t deserve it.  The Saints captain’s shot was hit to swerve away from Lloris’ dive to his left and it kept going out of Hugo’s reach.

A free-kick given for a foul on Winks just outside the D of the penalty area brought Tottenham’s first shot on target in the 28th minute, with Kane forcing Forster to dive to his right to get behind the ball.  The home team were losing their composure with Salisu picking up a booking for constantly fouling and then Hasenhuttl blew his top over a clear free-kick given against his side and got shown a yellow card too. Spurs got another shot on goal in the 35th minute when Kane played it to Son and he ran at the defence, but only his Forster’s midriff. A couple of through passes were unlucky not to find their men by Spurs, with one hitting Kane’s heels and another just beyond Dele for the keeper to come out of his box to clear.

When Spurs did get a pass through by Winks, Son took it into the box and Saliso brought him down with a tackle as late as his others and was given a second yellow card to see him walk. Kane grabbed the ball and drilled it into the opposite top corner as the keeper dived to his left, equalising for Spurs four minutes before half-time.

From the kick-off, the irritating Long ran into Reguilon and then went down holding his head trying to get something to even things up. Sergio did get booked a couple of minutes later when he over-ran the ball in attack and stretched to foul. And that was probably why he was substituted at half-time, with the home players looking to play on him to make it ten v ten.

At the start of the second half, Spurs were pinning the opposition into their own half with the extra man making Saints drop everyone back behind the ball. 52.08 Winks looked forward with a ball over the top and Kane was onto it, with his first touch taking it to his right and away from Walker-Peters and then it was drilled low past Forster, but VAR gave it as offside.  SCBC tried to respond, but Ward-Prowse’s shot was beaten down and drifted softly through to Lloris, then Spurs sprung forward with Kane giving Son a neat lay-off and his shot was blocked too.

Spurs were maintaining the pressure with a few corners but nothing came from them and the home team went forward with Stuart Armstrong having a shot that hit Dier, with the local fans pleading for a penalty, when it never was, with the ball flying off the Spurs defender’s shoulder. Lucas Moura came on for Dele, with the pace of the Brazilian looking to be used against a tiring home team. It w as Winks’ high looping ball into the box that saw Forster come for it and fumble the ball under challenge by Doherty and the ball trickled behind him into the net off the keeper’s heel, but Taylor blew for a foul on the keeper, which was a bit soft really.

The breaks were opening up SCBC, with Perraud having a shot from a long way out blocked and suddenly Son had it and played it left to Doherty, but he couldn’t beat Forster this time.   Doherty got in behind the defence from a Winks pass, but he hooked the ball over the bar with his right foot, when an effort with his left might have been better.  Emerson was replaced by Bryan Gil, as Spurs looked to give the attack a pair of fresh legs. With Doherty on the left as a wing back, it meant that he had to check back onto his right foot when he wanted to cross it and if he played it back to Davies, it went infield and onto his weaker right foot, so it might have been better if they had swapped positions. Gil got a cross onto Son’s head, but there was no problem for Forster as the ball went straight at him.  Lucas did well to get around his marker in the right side of the box, but Walker-Peters cleared with his head and then got it in the way as Davies’ pile-driver came in from the clearance. Moura fired in a shot from the edge of the box that the keeper punched away and then got onto a ball into the box
but couldn’t get enough on it to get it over Forster, with the ball looping gently into the keeper’s hands.

Winks played a good ball into the box but Son and Moura got in each other’s way and Son’s header was easy for the keeper to grab. Spurs almost got caught out when Broja got the ball off him as he looked to pass back to Hugo, but Sanchez got back to deflect the striker’s shot over the bar.  Tottenham broke when the second ball ended up in Hugo’s hands and Hojbjerg had a shot blocked and Kane put a header wide when Walker-peters was dragging his short off him. As the last added minute ticked over, Gil had a shot pushed over for a corner and that brought another one, but the home team held out for a point despite the narrowest of offsides when Kane put the ball in the net.

It meant that we are still unbeaten but losing two points is a bit of a blow with other results to come, but it was a good performance after a very slow start and it was difficult to get through a packed defence in the second half, as SCBC were only intent on holding on to what they had. With 76% possession and 18 shots in the second half, it was mainly down to the blocking by SCBC defenders and a lucky decision when the keeper dropped the ball for it to end up in the net being given as a foul that kept them in it.

The Saints players had been going in late from the beginning of the match and Salisu’s first yellow was a result of totting up of his fouls and their recklessness came back to bite them with the penalty award and the sending off.

Conte will not be happy that advantage couldn’t be taken of the ten men and with Watford losing to West Ham today, the next game will need some sharper finishing to make sure that we don’t waste the benefit of having games in hand.

Barry Levington

Eric Dier makes his 300th Spurs appearance in all competitions.

Bryan Gil’s 100th senior appearance.

Antonio Conte becomes the first Spurs manager to go unbeaten in his first seven league matches.