Source: Telegraph
Aston Villa 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1: match report
Michael Dawson made good on a Tottenham Hotspur performance remarkable for its sheer toil. His team had been largely tepid for 45 minutes, much as they had been in their 9-1 demolition of Wigan seven days earlier, but this time they made a second-half difference through unrelenting pressure and kept themselves three points clear of their fellow Champions League pretenders Aston Villa on the outer edge of the top four. [LNB]It was just reward for Dawson, who delivered a blood-and-thunder performance as captain, a deserved thrust into the limelight for one of Tottenham's least heralded figures. Gabriel Agbonlahor also had a day in the sun under the freezing Birmingham rain. He is often criticised as a lightweight whippet, more preoccupied with expanding his own collection of Lamborghinis than with working for the good of the Villa team. But those arguments were doused as his tenth-minute goal made good on Martin O'Neill's promise to go at Tottenham hell for leather. [LNB] Related ArticlesPremier League tablePremier League actionPremier League fixturesSport on televisionIt was a surprise not to hear the visiting supporters break into a chant of "we want 10". That, as it turned out, would have been grossly premature, so expertly did Villa blunt any threat. Luke Young was a revelation at left-back in containing Aaron Lennon, while Jermain Defoe had no more glory in which to bask. Quite the contrary. [LNB]Defoe was at the heart of the game's most controversial incident after 72 minutes, when he celebrated a Tottenham 'equaliser' despite being guilty of the most brazen handball inside the six-yard box. To magnify the misdemeanour, he proceeded to celebrate; a case of 'Thierry Defoe', if ever there was one. [LNB]Niko Kranjcar, credited by Harry Redknapp with contriving "some brilliant stuff" in Tottenham's filleting of Wigan, was again inspired from the first kick last night, unleashing a volleyed drive that almost propelled Brad Friedel back into his own net. A show-stopping strike, yes, yet here is a midfielder emblematic of his team: sublime in bursts, but too often toothless. The speed with which Redknapp's players then slipped into a daze, enabling Villa's first-half breakthrough, surely suggested as much. [LNB]There were suspicions of handball as Carlos Cuellar's header was blocked at the near post by Benoit Assou-Ekotto, but Tottenham were far too dilatory in clearing their lines. Agbonlahor gave captain Michael Dawson the slip, bundling the loose ball past Heurelho Gomes for the least elegant finish you are likely to see this season. It was a goal against type for Agbonlahor, inclined as he tends to be towards greater extravagance. And as his eighth of the season, it underlined his worth. [LNB]Less conspicuous is Cuellar, but no less significant for his last-gasp defending. The Spaniard with the ball at his feet is a sight to behold (for donkey-lovers, perhaps), but this ungainly centre-back is no mule when forced to guard the Villa line, and he displayed his skills to fine effect after Tom Huddlestone's free-kick was knocked through to that poacher 'par excellence', Defoe. The striker, perhaps dreaming of another five-goal haul, saw his shot well parried by Friedel but Dawson's follow-up drew the decisive intervention, Cuellar scrambling the ball away instinctively. [LNB]Defoe, even on his more subdued days, can never be left alone, as Friedel found out. Tottenham's 'pocket rocket' almost produced an effort to eclipse anything he produced at White Hart Lane last weekend when he turned in a nano-second to dispatch Kranjcar's cross with a vicious dipping volley, the vapour trails of which the American goalkeeper just glimpsed above his bar. [LNB]A pity, then, with Villa in grimly defensive mode, that Tottenham could not fashion an onslaught. Redknapp was visibly disgruntled in the dug-out as the attacking talents among his side managed to offer a good deal less than the sum of their parts. Kranjcar, given the 30-yard free-kick range he would normally relish, crashed his attempt into the wall before scuffing a second chance. [LNB]Never mind, though, Redknapp ought to have said at half-time. Tottenham put eight goals past Wigan in the second half and Kranjcar, instrumental in that demolition, was in the mood for a repeat as his swerving first-time hit from Crouch's knock-down called Friedel into diving action. Deceptively slight, the Croatian playmaker has more power in his boots than anyone. [LNB]Dawson demonstrated a similar quality, such was the poise with which he pounced on Richard Dunne's botched clearance with a lethal strike, giving the equaliser Tottenham fans feared might never come. [LNB]
