Football News

Monday 9 April 2012


Tottenham 1-2 Norwich City: Pilkington & Bennett goals further dent Spurs' top-four hopes


Tottenham suffered a huge setback in their fight for third place in the Premier League as they fell to a 2-1 defeat by the hands of Norwich City at White Hart Lane.

An early goal from Anthony Pilkington gave the Canaries the initiative before Jermain Defoe levelled the scores with a fine finish moments after the visitors were denied a penalty.

Norwich played with no inhibition in what was a thrilling contest and took all three points thanks to a magnificent strike from Elliott Bennett, denying Tottenham the three points that they needed to go ahead of Arsenal into third.Harry Redknapp made five changes to the side which drew with Sunderland, with Jake Livermore coming in for the injured Scott Parker. Ledley King, Aaron Lennon, Louis Saha and Defoe were also back in the side.
Paul Lambert brought in Bradley Johnson, Pilkington and Aaron Wilbraham for Wes Hoolahan, David Fox and Andrew Surman in three changes from the weekend.
Spurs started the game on the front foot and could have scored as early as the fourth minute when Defoe found space in the box and laid the ball off to Saha but the Frenchman’s low shot was well saved by John Ruddy.
Norwich were almost handed the lead in the 11th minute when Kyle Walker’s careless pass back to Brad Friedel was pounced on by Grant Holt but the Tottenham defender made amends by nicking the ball back.
The visitors took the lead through Pilkington with Younes Kaboul at fault this time losing possession on the edge of the box. Walker and King failed to clear the danger between them presenting the chance to a grateful Pilkington who calmly slotted home.
Tottenham looked vulnerable in defence as the match went on with Grant Holt creating real problems for King and Kaboul with his physical presence.
Norwich could have doubled their lead after half an hour through Johnson but his thunderous strike hit the base of the wall from a well worked set-piece.
Holt continued causing the Spurs defence problems and should have had a penalty after 32 minutes. The striker managed to turn King and was then dragged to the ground by the defender but the referee waved away the visitors’ protests, leaving Paul Lambert incensed on the touchline.
It went from bad to worse for the Lambert as Spurs were level a minute after his side were denied a penalty. Livermore threaded a lovely ball into Defoe after winning possession in midfield. Defoe waited for Ruddy to come rushing out before lifting the ball over him to bring the scores level.
Despite getting back into the match it was Norwich who looked more likely to score the next goal, mainly because of lacklustre defending from the home side. Elliot Bennet nearly exposed their frailties in the 5th minute with a volley at the back post which was well kept out by Friedel.
The teams went in level at the break but the big talking point was the penalty not given for the foul on Grant Holt, which would have given Norwich an opportunity to go two up.
Redknapp brought off the out of sorts Saha at halftime replacing him with topscorer Emmanuel Adebayor.
Tottenham started the second half with a sense of purpose and almost immediately took the lead through Gareth Bale. The Welshmen was on the end of Aaron Lennon’s cut back from the right hand side but his shot from 15 yards out was blocked.
Spurs came close again in the 53rd minute and were only denied by a brilliant save from Ruddy.  Benoit Assou-Ekotto exchanged passes with Adebayor and then fired a low shot which was Ruddy was equal to.
That was followed by another great chance for Johnson who fired his half-volley over the bar from only a few yards out after making a good run to get on the end of Holt’s cross.
The White Hart Lane crowd were witnessing a thrilling match as both teams threw men forward searching for the breakthrough.
Bale in particular looked more like his usual self in the second half and he hit the woodwork with a left footed shot after being released by a fine pass from Luka Modric.
Just when the Spurs crowd were finding their voice they were silenced by a magnificent goal fromBennett after 66 minutes. The full back advanced with the ball down the right hand side and with the Tottenham defence backing off he hammered a glorious shot past the a statuesque Friedel.
The Norwich goal took the sting out of the match and created a sense of tension in the crowd which was filtering into the Spurs players. The breakneck tempo was finally slowing down with the visitor’s adopting a more cautious approach.
Although they didn’t completely abandon their attacking instincts and wasted a great chance to make it 3-1 when Johnny Howson had a chance to shoot inside the area but elected to pass allowing the Tottenham defence to intervene.
Norwich were denying Spurs any possesion in the final third and were themselves knocking the ball about with confidence and style as the match drew to a close.
Five minutes were added on at the end of the game but the Canaries remained resolute to close out a famous victory.

Tottenham

24
Brad Friedel
Goalkeeper
6.0
4
Younes Kaboul
Defender
46′
6.0
26
Ledley King
Defender
5.5
28
Kyle Walker
Defender
50′
6.0
32
6.5
3
Gareth Bale
Midfielder
6.0
7
Aaron Lennon
Midfielder
6.0
14
Luka Modric
Midfielder
6.0
29
Jake Livermore
Midfielder
33′ 71′
6.0
8
Louis Saha
Striker
46′
5.5
18
6.5

Norwich City

7.5
1
John Ruddy
Goalkeeper
6.5
2
6.5
3
Adam Drury
Defender
6.5
22
Elliot Ward
Defender
7.0
16
6.0
4
Bradley Johnson
Midfielder
59′
7.5
12
Anthony Pilkington
Midfielder
13′ 73′
7.0
17
Elliott Bennett
Midfielder
62′ 66′
6.5
14
Jonny Howson
Midfielder
7.0
9
Grant Holt
Striker
70′
6.5
21

Substitutes

23
Carlo Cudicini
Goalkeeper
-
6
Ryan Nelsen
Defender
46′
6.0
11
5.5
21
Niko Kranjcar
Midfielder
-
25
Danny Rose
Midfielder
-
30
Sandro
Midfielder
-
10
6.0

Substitutes

-
31
Jed Steer
Goalkeeper
-
20
Leon Barnett
Defender
-
7
Andrew Crofts
Midfielder
-
14
Wesley Hoolahan
Midfielder
6.0
11
Andrew Surman
Midfielder
73′
6.0
5
6.0
10

Coach/Manager

-
-

Coach/Manager

-
-
 

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