TUESDAY 29TH JULY, 2003
FRIENDLY FIXTURE
KAIZER CHIEFS 0 (0) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 (2)

Scorers:-
Keane, 1
Etherington, 42(pen)

Attendance:- +- 30,000

Referee:- Petros Mathabela

Teams:-
Kaizer Chiefs (4-4-2)Baloyi, Mabedi, Nzama (Zwane, 45),Thobejane, Fredericks, Kannemeyer, Pule, Mooki (Moshoeu, 60), Nengosmasha,Musasa (Radebe, 62), Dlamini.

Spurs (3-5-2):-Burch, Carr, Taricco (Kelly, 45), Gardner, Bunjevcevic, Etherington, Redknapp (Ricketts, 85), Anderton, Acimovic (Davies, 67), Postiga (Poyet, 75), Keane.

Spurs Odyssey is grateful to Ralph Hohls for his reports from South Africa

A warm evening this time in Cape Town and we were all packed into the ground to watch Spurs hopefully improve vastly on Saturday's showing. We were not to be disappointed.

In the hotel before, Gary Mabbutt had told us personally that they ensured the pitch was cut to "the way we like it". The stadium was much fuller than Saturday, and we were positioned well in the lower Grand Stand, on the halfway line. Initially there was a problem with the lights, however they were almost completely functional by the time Spurs kicked off at just after 8:30 PM. I say almost, as there were still some lights at the Chiefs end that were not on. These were restored some 15 minutes into the match.

Spurs started with Gardner at left back, Etherington on the left wing again, and Bunje playing a sort of central sweeper roll at the centre of defence. Perry had already travelled back to the UK by then, I'm not too sure why. I see he turned out for a Spurs XI the other night. Carr was once again in a wing back role with Taricco to the right of Goran. Postiga and Keane started up front with Milenko and Matty on the flanks and Anderton and Redknapp in central midfield supporting the strikers.

Literally the 1st move of the match resulted in the 1st of 2 goals on the night for Tottenham. A neat one two between Helder and Keane led to a Postiga shot, which was deflected by Keane past a stranded Baloyi into the back of the net. Jubilation for the Spurs supporters! 2 minutes later a magic ball by Jamie Redknapp, put Postiga through, but he was well tackled and lay there for a while clutching his shin. We were initially worried that he'd picked up an injury, but he soon stood up and continued as if nothing had happened. Chiefs started to attack down the flanks and in particular the right flank seemed to afford them many opportunities. Too often Etherington would try taking on a defender, lose out, and Chiefs would break down the same side, placing Gardner under some pressure. This situation led to Chief's first corner after 9 mins, which was wasted , thankfully from a Spurs point of view.

Chiefs had a few attacks but wasted all of them, mostly by blasting the ball high over the bar when finding space just outside the 18-yard box. One such move almost resulted in a shot. Pule advanced down the right flank and sent a low cross into the centre. Acimovic was caught ball watching and provided space for Nzama to dab a pass across the 6-yard area. Very fortunately it was just too strong and ran out for a goal kick. On 12 minutes Spurs won their 1st corner of the game, it was an in swinger from Darren but was headed clear by the Chiefs defence. Keane then took the resulting corner from the opposite side. Again it was one of those flat hard corners to the edge of the area. Jamie made a bit of a hash of trying to get onto the end of it.

Numerous thru balls to Postiga found the Portuguese striker going down all too easily in my opinion. The midfield, which had started out looking a lot stronger than Saturday (Redknapp in particular was much more mobile and authoritative), was now looking a little porous. On 17 mins Anderton released Etherington down the left with a well-played pass. Matty put in a poor cross, which sailed over the bar. 2 minutes later another good ball from Anderton to Etherington had him trying to round his man. He was dispossessed and a good counter from Chiefs led to a good save from Burch.

All too often the Chiefs players would get up to the Spurs penalty area then waste a shot over the bar not troubling Burch. Some good work from Bunje held off another Chiefs attack from the lively Pule. At one point Milenko fought of a challenge on the Spurs goal line. He did well to win the ball and fed Carr on the edge of our area. Carr promptly was caught in possession and Burch saved another potentially dangerous situation after a decent effort from the Chiefs midfielder.

Chiefs were applying fairly constant pressure but in contrast to Saturday, Spurs were dealing with it well. A free kick to Spurs was taken quickly by Redknapp. He sent a good pass to Etherington whose cross failed to find Postiga in the area. Towards the end of the half I noticed that Redknapp had drifted over to the left side to help plug the gaps that Chiefs had been exploiting. 6 minutes to the break and some lovely play led to a very close effort by Keane. Anderton distributed the ball very well to Keane who pushed the ball to Etherington. The ball was well played back to Keane whose shot was saved. 2 minutes later Spurs were rewarded for their good play by another goal. This was a cool finish from Etherington. Carr controlled well, passed to Postiga who fed Darren Anderton on the right of midfield. Darren played a defence-splitting ball, which Etherington ran onto and made no mistake slotting it past the advancing Baloyi. 2 - 0 Spurs!

The rest of the half offered up little in the way of excitement, and the players went into the tunnel leaving us in the stands decidedly chirpier than the same time, 3 days earlier.

In the second half Tottenham began to knock it around nicely and the one touch stuff was all coming off. Fredericks and Pule continued to attack down the right flank, and I must say their heads never dropped. Tottenham now had the measure of them and they didn't seem to have the ability to change tactics that would unsettle us. Quarter of an hour gone of the 2nd half and Chiefs were pressing again. Tottenham by now were content to soak up the pressure and controlled the game. Youngster Stephen Kelly came on for Taricco at the break and after looking a little unsure to start , made one great challenge. After this, he looked well up for it and looked quite solid. This was encouraging and I hope he is one of those who runs out this season for the first team.

Glenn decided to bring off Acimovic who'd had a good game, I thought, and replaced him with Simon Davies. Soon after Keane fell under a strong challenge that left him needing the magic spray from the physio on the sidelines. During this period Fredericks from Chiefs was giving Etherington a torrid time down the right flank. A good cross was shepherded out well by Stevie Carr. With 16 minutes to go, Postiga came off for Poyet. Postiga had played well, but again I often saw him one on one too many times ending up second best and gesticulating wildly to a referee who wasn't to be moved. On the half hour a free-kick awarded to Chiefs in a dangerous position was well headed clear by the more confident Kelly.

With the game approaching conclusion Davies showed off some more of his skill. His deft touch found Poyet whose long ball very nearly found Etherington. The last 10 minutes of the match saw Spurs in complete control, knocking it about, while Chiefs looked like they had started to run out of steam. Redknapp came off (replaced by Ricketts on 85 minutes) and passed the Captain's armband (as he did in Durban) to Darren Anderton. I am wondering if this will be the captain / vice captain combination Glenn will be using into the season?

So there it was. A far more professional performance by the Spurs. I hope they find the time on the ball that they had tonight, in the Premiership, though somehow I don't think so. We waited for the presentation of the trophy and cheered all the way out of the stadium, and off to the pub for a celebration or 2. A slight concern is that of Ledley King and Zamora neither of whom were used tonight, due to niggling injuries. I hope they regain fitness soon!

(Copyright of this match report is claimed by Ralph Hohls )

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