TUESDAY 2ND JANUARY, 2001
FA CARLING PREMIERSHIP
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 4 (3) NEWCASTLE UNITED 2 (1)

Spurs scorers:-
Doherty, 26
Anderton (pen), 29
Rebrov, 34
Ferdinand, 77

Newcastle scorers:-
Solano, 22
Dyer (pen), 49

Referee:- Mr S. Bennett

Attendance:- 34,324

Teams:-
Spurs (3-5-2):- Sullivan; Doherty, Campbell, Perry; Leonhardsen (sub Walker, 48), Anderton (sub Young, 82), Sherwood, King, Clemence; Rebrov, Ferdinand

Subs not used:- Thelwell; Davies, Korsten

Sent off:- Sullivan, 48 (adjudged to have professionally fouled Dyer)
No bookings

Newcastle (3-5-2):- Harper; Barton, Goma, Hughes; Solano, Acuna, Speed, Bassedas, Griffin (sub Glass, 68); Ameobi (sub Lualua, 68), Dyer

Subs not used:- Given; Caldwell; Cordone

Booked:- Bassedas (diving), Goma (foul)
Sent off:- Solano, 32 (Deliberate handball), Dyer, 53 (foul and abusive language).

Welcome to the parallel universe of White Hart Lane! The home team had suffered five and a half hours without scoring, and had obtained only one point from their previous three holiday encounters. Their fans have endured some pretty dour stuff on their travels, but tonight were treated to a most eventful (but not necessarily the most entertaining) 90 minutes in which referee Bennett managed to send off three players and give three penalties. I would say that two of the penalties and one of the sendings off were not justified.

Once again George Graham rang the changes - none enforced. Carr was still unavailable, and this time the manager played Gary Doherty on the right of the back three. Doherty had an excellent game, proving fairly competent at the back, but also benefitting from the extra room as he often moved forward and joined in the attack - to great effect. He scored his first goal in the first team, and laid on Sergei Rebrov's cracker after 34 minutes, during a mad 8 minutes spell for Spurs in the first half. It was Doherty's header too that Solano handled on the line to give away a second penalty, and also get sent off, having secured an early lead for the visitors. Dyer too scored and was sent off!

Sergei Rebrov returned alongside Les Ferdinand, and Rebrov looked really fired up, showing us a lot of the skills and firepower that we have waited to see. Mind you, he was given plenty of time and space by Alain Goma. Play was somewhat tentative for a while, with little goalmouth action. After 13 minutes Les Ferdinand headed down a Sullivan clearance, and Leonhardsen, lurking on the right, sent a cross which Clemence met at the back post, but headed wide.

Tim Sherwood had another of those enigmatic performances, and this one was filled with far too many elementary mistakes, where his passes were short, or misplaced. One such effort was gratefully accepted by stand-in striker Shola Ameobi, who quickly found Solano in space with time to pick his spot, and easily beat Sullivan. Spurs responded well, and Harper struggled to reach a glancing header by Rebrov from an Anderton free kick on the left. Rebrov got a good shot in from the edge of the area from the resulting corner, but it was scrambled clear.

Spurs equalised with a glorious header by Doherty, as the ball was crossed from the left following a throw-in. Doherty, on the 18 yard line hit a powerful header over Harper. Three minutes later came the first dodgy decision. This was in our favour, as the referee decided that Anderton had been clipped by Speed just inside the area. Anderton stepped up and cooly hit a rocket shot past the keeper. Within two minutes Solano was heading for the dressing room, as he lifted his hand to Doherty's header to clear off the line. This time Anderton hit the penalty straight at the keeper.

After 34 minutes, Ledley King (who had another competent performance) hit a beautiful cross field ball to Doherty, who threaded a clever pass to Rebrov, beating the offside trap. Sergei hit a glorious curling shot across the keeper into the far corner, with the outside of his right foot. Lovely! On the verge of half time, Rebrov was much faster than Goma to a long ball down the inside right channel, hitting a super 25 yarder that Harper failed to hold. Clemence was following up, but stumbled over a shot he should have converted with ease.

After the interval, a nice move involving Rebrov, Ferdinand and Sherwood gave Leo a chance but his shot was blocked for a corner. Then Dyer was away on one of his typical runs from the deep, beating Perry too easily, and leaving Neil Sullivan to try and rescue the situation, despite Leonhardsen's efforts to intervene. Sullivan won the ball, but Dyer went down, and the referee showed no hesitation in showing the red card, despite the protests. Leo was sacrificed to allow Walker to enter the fray, but Dyer made no mistake with the spot kick. Within minutes, Dyer too saw red. He was fouled outside the area by Perry, and gave the linesman a torrent of abuse as the officials waved play-on. Lino flagged furiously, and after consultation, Dyer was given his marching orders for what must have been "foul and abusive language". A stupid lack of discipline that cost his side dear.

With the scoreline at 3-2, Spurs lost a lot of their confidence and dominance, as the 9 men managed to retain possession, if not penetration, for much of the time. It was not until the 78th minutes, when Sol Campbell's rampaging run was brought to an end by Acuna, that Les Ferdinand scored with a free header from Anderton's free kick. Ferdinand and Rebrov are joint top scorers with 7 apiece.

Anderton had been drafted to the right wing back slot after Leo's substitution, and Luke Young made a welcome return from injury for the latter stages of the game. Rebrov tested Harper again, after Sherwood's exchange with Doherty, but Walker was forced into action, making two super close range saves from Speed and Lualua with just one minute to go.

George Graham indicated that Spurs would be asking the FA to view the video of the Sullivan incident in the hope that there will be no further punishment to follow. At least the side go to Brisbane Road in a higher state of confidence, following this much-needed win.

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