Spurs - Supreme Piece of IRONy Sinks the Hammers

Match Report
By Hoozen
March 4 2007

West Ham 3 Tottenham Hotspur 4

March 3^rd, 2007

The memory of dodgy lasagnas and heartbroken Spurs fans were never far away as the latest edition of this North v East London derby got under way on a cold and wet day at the Boleyn Ground, and it did indeed live up to all expectation. In many ways, this derby was as important to the Hammers as the corresponding fixture was to Spurs last season. While it wouldn’t mean anything particularly glorious to the team without a win since December 17^th, a victory would at least have given them a slim hope of Premiership survival. As it turned out, those hopes were cruelly dashed by a Spurs side full of the resilience which saw them to the brink of a Champion’s league place before last season’s fixture.

The game started brightly for West Ham, who, playing with purpose and passion born of relegation fear and condemning media reports, forced Paul Robinson into two smart saves very early on. And they soon made their early pressure tell. After just sixteen minutes, Carlos Tevez cleverly cushioned a lofted pass with his chest for Mark Noble to volley into the bottom corner through Michael Dawson’s legs. Spurs, playing some intricate stuff of their own, despite the hustle and bustle of the claret and blue midfield, bounced back on to find Green in fine form in goal and denying Spurs a deserved equalizer with several good saves. Tottenham, playing with a makeshift midfield in the face of several injuries, were finding it hard to cope with a frenzied and physical West Ham midfield which saw three of their players booked. Upson once again limped off after 11 minutes and Chimbonda was also shown yellow as Spurs were forced into several mistimed tackles, one of which, by Michael Dawson resulted in a West Ham free kick on the edge of the area. Up stepped Tevez, who floated in a curler off the underside of the bar with Robinson left flapping at air. It was his first goal in seventeen games at the club and he pulled off his shirt before jumping into the West Ham crowd to celebrate, his jubilation quite rightly earning him a yellow card.

At two-nil down, many sides would have folded, but not this Spurs, and not today. Memories of last season were still fresh and heads didn’t drop. Tottenham brought on Tom Huddlestone at the break and it was his pass that set Lennon free four minutes after the restart. Bowyer fouled Lennon in the area and Defoe, playing against his old club, converted from the spot with a low strike. In stark contrast to Tevez, Defoe celebrated his goal with nothing other than with a swift handshake or two with his teammates. Spurs were back in it now, and West Ham’s earlier passion had turned to nervousness. The momentum was with Tottenham and their equalizer, when it inevitably came, was simply superb. Berbatov crossed from the right and Aaron Lennon, in mid-air, guided the pass into the path of Tainio with a sublime backheel on the volley, and the Spurs substitute made no mistake from 10 yards.

Inexplicably, Spurs then handed the initiative back to West Ham. From the sixtieth minute on, they enjoyed most of the possession but were unable to carve out another clear scoring chance while Spurs were apparently content to sit back and play a game of rope-a-dope. The tactic almost backfired on Martin Jol when, in the 85^th minute, Bobby Zamora, West Ham’s top scorer, rose to head their third from a Carlos Tevez free kick within a minute of coming on. So it was backs to the wall time again for Spurs and their fans must have been wondering what had suddenly gone wrong. Jol then introduced the young Taraabt and on 87 minutes it did indeed seem an inspired substitution. The young debutant was fouled on the edge of the West Ham area after a mazy run, resulting in a dangerous free kick. The stage was now set for the imperious Dimitar Berbatov, who after a nonchalant one step run-up, curled the ball into the top corner to make it 3-3. You would have been forgiven then and there if you thought it was all over, but the referee added four minutes to the game after Quashie had received lengthy treatment following an innocuous challenge by Huddlestone. Desperate for the three points, and with three forwards on the pitch, Curbishley threw all his men forward to look for a winner and it nearly paid dividends after the ball fell loose to Tevez in the area and he flashed a shot just wide of Robinson’s post.

Then came the moment of supreme irony. Following a West Ham attack in the 95^th minute, the ball broke to Huddlestone, who fed Jermaine Defoe in the centre circle. One on one with Konchesky, Defoe carried the ball forward, teasing the defender, before finally pushing it past him in the penalty area and shooting low to Green’s right. The keeper was able to dive and parry the weakfish shot, and Paul Stalteri, an often much maligned figure by Spurs fans, was able to follow up and tuck the ball into the empty net, turning him from villain to hero in the space of a few short seconds. There was, mysteriously, time enough left for one more scare in the Tottenham penalty area, but the lilywhites held firm for a much deserved three points, leaving West ham to rue what might have been and contemplating what looks like being another season in the Championship.

Football’s a funny old game, and apart from the traditional rivalry between the two clubs, this game had an extra edge. Last season’s defeat had cut deep into Tottenham hearts and there was much talk of revenge. This wasn’t a case of revenge against West Ham as such, but the lure of condemning them to relegation was a very tempting one, especially given the circumstances and consequences of last season’s defeat. I would not blame any Spurs fans at all if they decided to go out tonight and celebrate today’s win at an Italian restaurant.