Premier League - Spurs snatch draw at Sunderland

Eurosport - Sun, 08 Mar 09:28:00 2009

Robbie Keane's late strike earned Tottenham Hotspur a 1-1 Premier League draw against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

FOOTBALL 2008-09 Premier League Tottenham's Robbie Keane celebrates equaliser against Sunderland - 0

The Spurs captain fired low into the right corner in the 89th minute, cancelling out Kieran Richardson's opener scored with less than three minutes gone.

Both sides will reflect on missed chances, while referee Phil Dowd turned down strong penalty appeals at either end.

On a brisk afternoon in the North-East, many fans had not yet taken their seats when Richardson burst into the box from midfield and placed a neat shot past Heurelho Gomes and inside the bottom-left corner.

Never has the midfielder looked more like Steven Gerrard, although the likeness owed as much to Spurs' slack defending as it did to Richardson's own qualities.

The home side's large contingent of White Hart Lane rejects meant both teams knew each other well, and familiar seemed to breed contempt as the game descended into a fractious bore.

Sunderland's first XI contained four ex-Spurs men, Marton Fulop, Steed Malbranque, and Andy Reid, while Calum Davenport was on the bench and Teemu Tainio out injured.

Pascal Chimbonda is now back at Tottenham after a brief spell at the Stadium of Light, and was deployed at left-back ahead of Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Gareth Bale.

He was involved in an early skirmish with ex-team-mate Djibril Cisse who, when not getting caught offside, spent most of the afternoon leaping into opponents and protesting furiously when Dowd refused to award him free-kicks.

Tottenham went closest with headers from Darren Bent and Keane that were wayward and weak respectively.

Otherwise, it was bad-tempered stuff, with Dowd moved to show five yellow cards in the first half.

Bent was preferred to Roman Pavyluchenko, but his finishing made the Russian's dreadful Carling Cup final performance look like a masterclass in the striker's art.

If Bent's first-half header was bad, he produced much worse after the break. A desperately poor sliced 'clearance' saw him played clean through, but he fired high over the bar from 12 yards with the goal at his mercy.

A minute later he had the chance to make amends but dragged a low shot wide from the right side of the box.

It was no better at the other end, as Cisse somehow failed to turn in a low Reid cross from six yards after it eluded Gomes. The Frenchman then saw a goalbound header blocked by Ledley King and was hauled off shortly afterwards.

Tottenham were denied a penalty 15 minutes from time when Phil Bardsley clearly handled a cross from the left but referee Dowd saw no offence, and Luka Modric blasted over the rebound.

Keane then toe-poked a half-chance high over the bar and Tom Huddlestone headed straight at Fulop.

Sunderland might have had a penalty when Kenwyne Jones appeared to be pulled over at a corner, although he certainly made the most of whatever contact there was. Dowd said no foul and Spurs immediately equalised.

They broke down the right with Bent, whose low cross was volleyed in emphatically by Keane, as Fulop got a hand on the ball but not enough to keep it out.

Both sides move to 32 points, five clear of the relegation zone.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

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  1. p.s and spend some money on a decent car you cheap bum

    From jack torrance, on Wed 11 Mar 7:48PM

  2. Bob seriously mate,Stephen King got it man you're­ so tense you either need a holiday or to have sex (I­ recommend with a woman)lighten up bro. I can sense the­ frustration with your lot in life in your­ words,negative people bring me down,may have to stop­ reading your posts.

    From jack torrance, on Wed 11 Mar 7:22PM

  3. And no my real name is not BOB but I am interested how­ I post like one???? With more intelligence than you­ perhaps.

    From Bob R, on Wed 11 Mar 11:29AM

  4. I note you "work" with drug addicts. I hope­ you don't "look after" those poor bar­ stewards I see hanging about outside that forlorn place­ in Nile Street whenever I take my car to my mate's­ garage. It's none the wonder they cannot get in­ because you spend every waking hour on here or the Toon­ board but yes you are right life is too short so peace.­ By the way Jack Torrance was a originally a character­ from a BOOK. Try reading a few and you may learn how to­ spell MIRTH.

    From Bob R, on Wed 11 Mar 9:27AM

  5. Bob life's too short your obviously caught up in­ some self bebasing rage cycle,chill man,you might find­ it helps if you support SAFC we are all jolly green­ giants full of merth and cheer,we take adversity on the­ chin and laugh in the face of relegation,get on board­ for the big win mate,inside every Geordie there's a­ Mackem struggling to get out.

    From jack torrance, on Wed 11 Mar 9:13AM

  6. Bob and Cameron what is this obsession with my­ Penis?Let it go men.Bob I'm sure we could be­ friends if you just extricated the bug that's­ clearly been wedged up your arse for a long long­ time.We have banter and fun here,an alien concept to­ you it appears.

    From jack torrance, on Wed 11 Mar 9:08AM

  7. Bob R
    welcome back - nice one!

    From cameron w, on Tue 10 Mar 6:23PM

  8. Still here jack, and you dont play us off the­ pitch.....EVER.

    From Tony K, on Tue 10 Mar 6:15PM

  9. Hang on how am I the bad guy. All I said in a­ roundabout way was Jacksy boy was a penis and I­ couldn't be bothered with him and his juvenile­ patter. Howay by his own admission he is married, about­ 40 and still goes on the way he does. There is no hope­ for him!

    From Bob R, on Tue 10 Mar 5:23PM

  10. Oh what a lovely thing to see,the smiles wiped off­ their faces

    From jack torrance, on Tue 10 Mar 3:43PM

  11. Wor me lads you should a seen them gannin,Gannin across­ Sid James's Park to see a public hangin.Ashley and­ Wise strung up by their flys with a pair of­ Keegan's laces . .

    From jack torrance, on Tue 10 Mar 3:42PM

  12. Tony K where are you? you usualy only go missing for­ this long when we play you off the pitch or someone­ else (like Bolton) does.Nothing too trivial I hope ha­ ha

    From jack torrance, on Tue 10 Mar 9:00AM

  13. Well said Cameron,Bob needs to lighten up a bit and­ thanks for commenting on the size of my member I guess­ my reputation extends further than I thought.2 games­ coming up this weekend that on paper should be 3 points­ for both teams,if only footy was that­ predictable.I'm up Edinburgh this weekend for a­ mate's 40th but will be watching sky sports news­ around the bars of course,drinking with a Mag I've­ been mates with for 30 years,always partisan but always­ fun,that's the point you're missing Bob.(p.s­ Bolton!!)

    From jack torrance, on Tue 10 Mar 8:56AM

  14. Good thinking Jack, splitting these posts up!!!!
    Anyway­ Bob R: Jack constantly goes onto the NUFC pages and­ stirs it, all we do is come on here and stir it back;­ no offence, but while we do take our football­ seriously, this is just a laugh.

    From cameron w, on Mon 9 Mar 6:35PM

  15. Don't be daft Bob R man; jack and co dish it out­ all the time - it's called 'banter' and it­ is an enshrined part of football from Day-One.­ Jack's actually a decent poster once you get to­ know him (for a mackem that is); it's the likes of­ downy100 who just take it a bit too far.

    From cameron w, on Mon 9 Mar 6:28PM

  16. Jack behave, NUFC had no game this weekend so obviously­ nowt to debate: i'm sorry but i have missed the­ funny side of your Bolton wheeze, straight over my head­ . . sorry i just don't get it; other than the fact­ that you answered my question yet again by NOT­ answering it, and asking a question of your own - are­ you sure you aren't a Member of Parliament Jack, or­ more likely . . . just a Big Member in general?
    ps
    you­ love the likes of me and tony k coming on here jack,­ otherwise you'd have nowt to do at work all day.

    From cameron w, on Mon 9 Mar 6:20PM

  17. well put Bob now be a good chap and f+@k off,never to­ darken our door again.p.s I split my posts because­ it's even more boring than watching NUFC play,when­ you write a long one and it comes up invalid.

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 3:20PM

  18. Four posts in a row over a 14 minute period, seems you­ are answering your own posts as usual. I hope this­ "job" you do is not goverment funded as it is­ a shocking waste of tax payers money. I tend to­ actually discuss football matters with other football­ fans on message boards rather than get involved in the­ juvenile name calling you revert to but it seems I am­ having a bad day. I will not darken your board again.

    From Bob R, on Mon 9 Mar 3:12PM

  19. I would love to shoot the breeze all day lads but as I­ said I'm a very busy man and I'd rather be­ doing anything else TTFN

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 2:54PM

  20. Camerom and Bob I notice you two haven't made a­ single comment on the latest NUFC page,now I know me­ and my team are interesting nay enthralling,but­ wouldn't you two be better informed if you paid­ your own site a visit now and then,or has the car crash­ become too painful?

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 2:49PM
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