Spurs hit back to stun Baggies

12 April 2014 16:46

West Brom threw away a three-goal lead as Christian Eriksen's late strike saw Tottenham secure a Barclays Premier League point at The Hawthorns.

For the second successive home game, the Baggies were held to a 3-3 draw due to a stoppage-time goal, Eriksen rounding Steven Reid and smashing the ball past Ben Foster deep into the additional period.

Albion had looked to be cruising towards three points in the early stages, racing into a 2-0 lead through strikes from Matej Vydra and Chris Brunt in the first and fourth minutes respectively.

After Foster had saved a tepidly-struck penalty from Emmanuel Adebayor, Stephane Sessegnon then capitalised on a Younes Kaboul error to make it 3-0 in the 31st minute.

But Tottenham rallied impressively and following Jonas Olsson's own-goal in the 34th, Harry Kane headed in with 20 minutes to go before Eriksen fired in his leveller at the end.

It meant West Brom boss Pepe Mel, whose side drew 3-3 with Cardiff in their last Hawthorns encounter, was once again denied his first home win since taking over in January.

And having passed up this opportunity, Albion are now only three points clear of the relegation zone in 16th place with five games to go - albeit, one more than the three sides below them.

Spurs, meanwhile, are sixth, four points behind fifth-placed Arsenal and six behind fourth-placed Everton, with both those sides having a game in hand over them.

West Brom made a flying start. Less than 30 seconds had elapsed when Morgan Amalfitano well and truly outwitted Danny Rose on the right and put a ball into the box that Hugo Lloris could only push to Vydra, who hooked it into the net.

Albion swiftly added another, taking advantage of sloppy play at the back by Spurs as Reid's cross dropped to Brunt via a flick-on and the Baggies skipper volleyed home sweetly.

Tottenham looked to hit back quickly and after Kane had fired an attempt wide, the visitors were awarded a penalty around the quarter-hour mark when referee Neil Swarbrick ruled Amalfitano had fouled Rose in the West Brom box.

The subsequent effort from the spot by Adebayor was tame and Foster was able to get down to his left to keep it out.

Spurs had an escape in the 26th minute when Amalfitano, allowed considerable space in the area, received the ball from Youssouf Mulumbu and drilled it at Lloris, who pushed it over the bar.

But after Paulinho sent the ball into Foster's arms from distance, West Brom's third then did arrive and once again Tottenham did themselves no favours in the build-up.

Olsson's long hopeful ball forward from defence was headed backwards by Kaboul and taken by Sessegnon, who drove forward while holding off Vlad Chiriches before slotting beyond Lloris.

While the West Brom fans gleefully chanted at Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood that he was going to be sacked in the morning, their Spurs counterparts barely knew what had hit them.

However, their hopes of a comeback were soon boosted. Only three minutes after Sessegnon's strike, the away side had a goal back when Olsson diverted a cross into the box past his own goalkeeper.

And moments later Foster pulled off a great double save, pushing away Paulinho's shot before denying Rose on the rebound.

Tottenham kept up the pressure after the restart and after Rose put an attempt wide, Foster produced further heroics, palming behind an Aaron Lennon strike and then jumping to keep out a lofted Eriksen free-kick.

Rose was in the thick of the action once again when he went down in the West Brom area claiming a foul by Reid, only to pick up a booking from Swarbrick for his trouble.

Kaboul then escaped punishment for a collision with Foster which he appeared to have gone into with a slightly high foot.

Spurs kept up the tempo and in quick succession Kane saw his marker just beat him to one cross in front of goal and then narrowly failed to stretch enough to connect with another.

The striker had his goal within a few minutes, though, rising to head in from Lennon's cross.

Eriksen then skewed off-target and Rose smashed over as Tottenham hunted down an equaliser.

And it came in dramatic circumstances as the ball came to Eriksen in the box after a cross was flicked on and the midfielder got the better of Reid before cracking the ball into the net.

Source: PA