Premier League - Bent fails to make point to Spurs

Eurosport - Sat, 07 Nov 16:56:00 2009

Darren Bent missed a penalty against his former club as Sunderland fell to a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham at White Hart Lane, the goals coming from Robbie Keane and Tom Huddlestone.

2009-10 Premier League Sunderland Darren Bent Tottenham Heurelho Gomes - 0

Keane put the hosts into the lead on 12 minutes before Bent was denied the satisfaction of getting one over his former employers by the excellent Heurelho Gomes soon after half-time.

A screamer from Huddlestone on 69 minutes put Spurs two up and sealed all three points to send Harry Redknapp's side into fourth place, with Manchester City being held to a 3-3 draw by Burnley at Eastlands.

Sunderland, who contributed a great deal to an entertaining match, also hit the post and had a second penalty appeal turned down. The result saw Steve Bruce's side drop a place to ninth.

Bruce had not won in his previous 17 Premier League visits to London as a manager but he saw his side start promisingly.

Bent's cross after just six minutes caused panic in the Spurs box, but Jordan Henderson and Kieran Richardson got into each other's way and conspired to pass up on the opportunity.

Yet despite that confident start, it was Spurs who took the lead, Keane opening the scoring against the run of play.

Peter Crouch was the architect, the striker's aerial threat proving decisive again as he met Benoit Assou-Ekotto's cross with a header back across the face of goal for Keane to volley goalwards. Craig Gordon saved well but could not prevent Keane bundling the ball over the line on the rebound.

The goal galvanised Spurs and they went on to dominate the first half until Sunderland came back into things after they had a strong penalty appeal turned down by referee Kevin Friend on 33 minutes.

Bent who was involved again as he tumbled to the ground under Gomes's challenge following good work by Fraizer Campbell on the right. But he was made to wait for his penalty as play was waved on.

Andy Reid hit the post with a lovely dipping shot soon after and Richardson was denied by an alert Gomes who raced off his line to save at his feet as Sunderland were frustrated in their efforts to equalise.

Not even the award of a penalty kick saw the Black Cats get on the scoresheet, something for which Bent will be kicking himself.

Redknapp offloaded Bent to Sunderland after having said his "missus" could have scored a chance the striker missed during his time at White Hart Lane. But those words nearly came back to haunt the Spurs boss when Bent, keen to prove a point, won a penalty in the 51st minute.

The striker stepped up to take the spot kick himself but he failed in his mission with Gomes, who had only been cautioned for the original foul when Sunderland had perhaps expected a red card, guessing the right way and repelling his effort.

It proved a crucial moment and 16 minutes later Sunderland found themselves two goals down after Huddlestone powered a drive from the edge of the box in off the underside of the crossbar.

Sunderland huffed and puffed in the closing stages, Michael Turner bringing another save out of Gomes with a smart header with seven minutes remaining, but getting one goal back, let alone two, proved a bridge too far for the visitors and Bruce failed to improve on his poor record in the capital.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

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  1. Was a penalty but lucky for us Harry's wife never­ took it!!
    Both sides were missing key players, so­ twitter struggled without the beachball to partner him­ up front............COYS

    From Wayne, on Sun 8 Nov 6:55PM

  2. I'm a Spurs fan who has a bit of a soft spot for­ Sunderland (and I still like Reid and Marlbranque) but­ I have to say that Darren Bent is utter rubbish. His­ decent record absolutely baffles me, although most of­ his goals seem to be scuffs and miskicks. I was­ delighted we sold him and couldn't believe we got­ more than £6m, but I still wish Sunderland all the best­ and think they'll have a good season. When Modric­ is back Spurs will be dominating teams again.

    From matthew, on Sun 8 Nov 12:34PM

  3. toon charging towards promotion, makems cant buy a win­ or even match the toons attendances and arsenal up­ next. it just gets better smb

    From Graham, on Sun 8 Nov 12:34PM

  4. Jack, good result for boxing mate; oh and what­ 'town' were you at btw?
    Erm PW, weren't­ Spurs missing Modric, Bassong and Lennon?
    I've had­ my rant re: Bruce's embarrassing whinge, and­ Bent's embarrassing dive on another link so will­ leave that there!
    Yes, very unlucky; mind you, i only­ saw the highlights on MOTD!
    Could be bottom half later­ this afternoon boys; oops, is that a wheel i see­ rolling before me? Oh and the next 3 games, stinkers­ the lot of them - may well be lucky to get one point.­ Hmmmmmmm, methinks the honeymoon is well and truly­ over.
    PW, don't wanna say that i told you so; but­ what the hey, erm . . . . . i told you so!Laugh all­ you want at us; winning, no matter what league, is a­ great feeling - 10 times i've had that feeling thus­ far and the promise of many, many more to come!

    From cameron w, on Sun 8 Nov 12:04PM

  5. TK. All those laughs are not even one percent of the­ laughs directed at those of the Sportsderalict.come­ this week T.K. I reckon you would need ten pages worth­ just for them to register 1% fella. Anyway I'm out­ from under my rock(Bit of a gathering on the lash last­ night with her in doors, around a mates house for the­ boxing etc, whilst all the woman were in another room­ drinking bottles of wine and talking girly things.I had­ a Buffalo Boonha for my meal, so you can appreciate­ I'm reluctant to stay in one place(ie sat on the­ PC) cos I Ferking stink this morning(I've got to­ keep moving and the wind on me face cos I'm more­ toxic than a Smog at the minute.

    Anyway with regards­ to me Magical Mackems "Unlucky is the word or­ Lucky if your Harry" they gave an excellent­ account of themselves against a team who are 4th away­ from home(with major absentees as well)Never expected a­ great deal from the game in all honesty(Like Arsenals­ next week) You can seriously start giving it to us the­ week after that one. Great result for the Hay-maker as­ well boys, Nice to wake up this morning with a world­ Champ Heavyweight, and the fight panned out as I­ expected.Not saying that I told you so, but I told you­ so.

    "The pride of the north east and especially­ county Durham"since 1879

    SAFC and the Hay-maker­ too

    From PWilson, on Sun 8 Nov 11:26AM

  6. Regular makem here: no, its not a 'blip', its a­ fair reflection of where we are. We played well but­ didn't take our chances, including a pen and paid­ the price. End of the world? No. Why do you keep­ laughing at us when we lose? Ask any other supporter­ apart from red/white and black/white who they'd­ rather support right now, given position etc. and­ they's pick us if they were being honest. When your­ team is doing a Man. U, Arsenal or Chelsea you can­ laugh. I can understand that.

    From JojO, on Sun 8 Nov 10:11AM

  7. SAFC were the better team on the pitch & not many­ of the cokneys who were there would disagree but once­ again we failed to follow it up with goals. Losing away­ is becoming a bad habit (again)
    Well better get away up­ to the NE for a decent pint after spending the night in­ Ruislip drinking warm tea which was s'posed to be­ some sort of bitter!
    Tony K(nobhead) & cameron­ w(anker) AKA 'Jedward!'
    FTM

    From downy100, on Sun 8 Nov 9:31AM

  8. Me quiet Tony never ha ha just got a bit of a gallon+­ hangover,great atmosphere watching the Haye fight in­ town.As for the football we've gotta stop playing­ teams off the park and coming away with nothing,we were­ by far the superior team on that pitch and the Spurs­ fans knew it,but that doesn't ammount to a hill of­ beans next day in the papers it still reads as a defeat­ eh

    From jack torrance, on Sun 8 Nov 9:14AM

  9. Looks like all the regular mackems have gone quiet.­ Come on lads get out from under that rock its only a­ blip! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From Tony K, on Sun 8 Nov 8:10AM

  10. Good job twitter showed why we were glad to see the­ back of him here.................................COYS

    From Wayne, on Sun 8 Nov 7:06AM
  11. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I came across an age-gap site called ~~~­­ Agegapmingle--C O M ~~~ It's a nice and free place­­ for Younger Women and Older Men, or Older Women and­­ Younger Men, to interact with each other. Age gap is­­ not problem there. You may check out or tell your­­ friends.

    From kalysmith28, on Sun 8 Nov 3:12AM

  12. Sunderland may have had Spurs on the back foot, but we­ had the QUALITY to finish that the Black Cats did not.­ Sorry, Bent, even my missus could made that penalty!­ COYS!!!

    From The Zapper, on Sat 7 Nov 11:53PM

  13. Yet another woeful performance from Keane (even though­ he scored, he tried very hard to miss it!) who was ably­ supported by Jenas for his lack of effort and­ contribution and it is now clear they are both well­ past their 'sell-by' dates.
    Also, very strange­ team selection from Harry with 3 strikers and no wide­ players to start, with all the play straight down the­ middle and very predictable the only alternative being­ long high balls for Crouch.
    Even though Spurs secured­ the 3 points, it was a very poor performance and the­ crowd were getting very frustrated.

    From mambles, on Sat 7 Nov 7:40PM

  14. If you look closely at the replays, you will see that­ Gomez did not even touch Bent!
    Bent's cheating a$$­ was already in flight well before the ball reached­ Gomez, and so justice was done when the­ 'waster's' pathetic attempt to score a­ penalty was well saved by our man of the match.
    Well­ done Harry for offloading that piece of cr@p!

    From Philip B, on Sat 7 Nov 7:07PM

  15. Blunderland lose yet again!! SMB

    From Kenneth, on Sat 7 Nov 6:59PM

  16. Gomes saved the day for Spurs, Sunderland played­ brightly especially Steed and Reid. Redknapp's team­ was rightly booed at half time, we only looked more­ balanced once Krancjar came on for keano (who­ wasn't best pleased taken off). At home, we need­ width, Krancjar and Bentley shoulda started, not to­ force 3 strikers with keano wide out left. Lennon and­ Modric to come in once fully fit.

    COYS !!!

    From ispurs, on Sat 7 Nov 6:40PM

  17. Just win, baby!

    From GW, on Sat 7 Nov 6:22PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    cmon boys use my bum im filthy and up for anything and­ so is paul

    From Imstarving20, on Sat 7 Nov 6:21PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    cmon boys use my bum im filthy and up for anything and­ so is paul

    From Imstarving20, on Sat 7 Nov 6:21PM

  20. Get in there!!!! A two nil loss for the mackems AND­ Bent missed a pen!!! It doesnt get much better........

    From Tony K, on Sat 7 Nov 6:04PM
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