SORENSEN HEROICS EARN VILLA SHARE OF THE SPOILS

By Ryan Ghee
January 22 2006

Aston Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen pulled off a string of world-class saves as the Villans battled hard for a goalless draw at White Harte Lane. O'Leary's men mustered only one telling shot in the entire game and Gareth Barry was dismissed late on for a second bookable offence.

Thomas Sorensen's one-man-show reached its peak in the closing stages as the Danish stopper thwarted Michael Carrick, Michael Brown and Tainio with three stunning saves to earn Villa a share of the spoils.

The match was largely dominated by Aston Villa's stout defending as Robbie Keane and Jermaine Defoe rarely got a clear sight of the Villa goal while Villa never threatened Paul Robinson in the Spurs goal for the entire 90 minutes.

After a quiet opening few minutes which saw the game played entirely in the middle of the field, Edgar Davids had the first sight of goal but he failed to direct his long-distance effort.

Jermaine Jenas, playing out wide for Tottenham, continually looked to trouble the Villa back-line but the final ball was always lacking. The England international twice failed to find the right delivery as he couldn't get the ball past the first defender on both occasions.

With thirty minutes on the clock, Tainio finally called Sorensen into action as the Villa keeper displayed his athletic ability to tip over the midfielder's well-executed lob.

Minutes later, Keane had a similar effort on the Villa goal and again Sorensen came out on top as he diverted the danger for a second time.

Tottenham manager Martin Jol had to reshape his midfield for the second half as Jenas and Davids left the field with injuries, prompting the introduction of Aaron Lennon and Michael Brown.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first as the hosts started to pile on more pressure as their visitors sat back and looked to play out a goalless draw.

Defoe twice threatened the Villa goal before the hour mark but on both occasions his finishing lacked the cutting edge and his frustrating day continued.

With 74 minutes on the clock, Aston Villa had their first chance of the match but Milan Baros dragged his shot horribly wide as it became clear that Paul Robinson was not going to be troubled for the remainder of the game.

In the final fifteen minutes, the-one-man show well and truly started as Sorensen made his third top-class save of the match; this time flinging himself across his goal to push away Carrick's fierce shot.

With Rasiak introduced upfront, Spurs continued to threaten the Villa defence but they simply refused to be beaten.

The Polish striker's cross, minutes after his introduction, found Tainio, who flicked the ball towards goal only to be denied by the Dane in the Villa goal.

With seven minutes remaining, Villa's task got even harder as Gareth Barry received two bookings for fouls on Aaron Lennon, meaning they had to hold off the opposing threat with only ten men for the last few minutes.

On 87 minutes, Olof Mellberg kept Villa's clean sheet intact as he threw his body in the way of Rasiak's close-range effort before Sorensen pulled off another superb save, this time to deny Brown in the final minute of stoppage time.