Source: Daily_Mail
Tottenham 0 Stoke 1: Whelan is the party pooper as City forget script
As the choruses of ‘Delilah’ rang out across White Hart Lane, the Stoke players ran to their fans to celebrate a remarkable victory.
And Harry Redknapp, his face creased with dejection, trudged away and cursed his luck. The script had insisted that the day should be a celebration of Redknapp’s first full year as Tottenham’s manager.
The crowd would erupt, the players would perform and Spurs would demonstrate why, after a year of Harry, they were the team most likely to infiltrate the top four. So much for the script.
Glenn Whelan
Pure delight: Glenn Whelan celebrates his goal for Stoke
Stoke are an honest side who work hard and possess good players in important positions. Tactically assured and physically capable, they deserved their first success at Tottenham in 34 years. Indeed, their manager Tony Pulis declared it the best win since they reached the Premier League last season.
Those milestones indicate the significance of the afternoon. Victory was delivered five minutes from time, the product of a right-wing conspiracy.
Ricardo Fuller, strong and balanced, came ploughing down the line, holding off the challenge of Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
Robbie Keane
Late save: Robbie Keane has his shot blocked by Thomas Sorensen
The cross was low and accurate and substitute Glenn Whelan buried the drive with robust authority.
Spurs looked strangely affronted. They had worked hard, they had fashioned a fairly constant stream of half-chances and they had offered the game’s most effective presence in Aaron Lennon.
But their finishing was flimsy and long before the end their tactical initiatives extended no further than the top of Peter Crouch’s head. In truth, they could have no complaints.
Yet there was irony in Whelan’s intervention. In the 78th minute, it was his harsh tackle which disabled Lennon and sent him limping off. Having used all their substitutes, Spurs faced being reduced to 10 men.
Peter Crouch
So close: Peter Crouch reacts after missing a chance for Tottenham
While Whelan was being booked, Redknapp suggested to Lennon that he might grit his teeth and stay around. Lennon decided that he was the best judge of his own ankle, and he kept on limping to the treatment room.
And yet, Spurs might have put affairs beyond argument had they exploited their resourceful football of the opening half-hour.
True, they lost poor Jonathan Woodgate with a head injury inside 13 minutes of his first game of the season. But then, Stoke had lost keeper Thomas Sorensen to illness before the match.
Naturally, his late replacement Steve Simonsen came on to perform quite brilliantly. He first brought off a clawing save from a Crouch header. Then Lennon, who was behind most of the progressive ploys that Tottenham tried, skipped past various defenders to draw a parrying save.
Jermaine Jenas
Tough battle: Jermaine Jenas is challenged by Stoke's Salif Diao
Then, in the 23rd minute, Lennon instigated the event which could have decided the match. Moving infield, he chipped an incisive cross which Crouch met cleverly with his head. James Beattie appeared as the last man, swung a foot and performed an improbable contortion to knock the ball off the line.
Four minutes later, Niko Kranjcar battered another chance against a post, yet somehow the game lost its edge after these early alarms. The managers had reacted in character during that half-hour.
Redknapp had been leaping up and down like an Hon Member trying to catch the Speaker’s eye. Pulis had simply sat on an advertising board, quietly fretting, while his assistant, Peter Reid, stood and chomped gum; a brooding gargoyle.
But after the bright beginning, Redknapp remained in his seat, powerless to affect events, while Pulis grew still more fretful. Reid just kept on chomping. Lennon remained the main threat to Stoke’s security, his quick feet carrying the power to embarrass big defenders. Yet still Stoke coped.
His departure greatly assisted their efforts, and they came through with scant discomfort. Indeed, we had the unsavoury sight of Kranjcar attempting to cheat a penalty in added time, but his acting was crude and the referee commendably firm.
So Stoke held on and the songs of their faithful signalled the victory. Redknapp has done great things for Tottenham in this past year, and he still cherishes dreams of the top four.
