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. Nice one Bob,but you do know I'm not really called­ Jack Torrance don't you? he's a character from­ a film Bob,however I suspect your real name is Bob your­ posts sound like they'd come from a bob.

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 2:43PM

  2. Boltom camerom!! me thinks you should realise when­ you're getting the p1ss took out of you in future­ ha ha BOLTON cameron,sorry it just gets funnyer every­ time I say it . . BOLTON

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 2:40PM

  3. The irony Jack would be if I too only got to 10-12­ games a season and made hundreds of pointless posts a­ week on your board. As I do neither it is not ironic. A­ better use of your time would be attempting the­ difficult job of persuading your 3 children that it is­ worth attending the stadium of light to watch SAFC thus­ improving your pathetic attendance record. What do you­ call a man with a car on his head?

    From Bob R, on Mon 9 Mar 2:37PM

  4. Jack, that's my whole point man, CAN'T YOU READ­ !!!!!!
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .­ . . your lot GOT BEAT off Bolton by FOUR GOALS TO ONE­ AT HOME, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!
    At least NUFC BEAT THEM AT­ HOME!!
    And i repeat, YOU were the one to bring up the­ 'Bolton' topic!
    Me thinks one should be­ thinking, before one puts one's foot into one's­ mouth in future, doth thou not agree Jack?

    From cameron w, on Mon 9 Mar 2:16PM

  5. Bob I bet you can't even see the irony in your­ statement.You're slagging off an SAFC supporter on­ his team's site . . tool

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 2:11PM

  6. Bob R, I would always put the interests of my 3­ children first on a weekend and as they sensibly have­ no interest in this insanity we call a sport,I have­ little choice but to attend that many matches.
    Bob what­ do you call a man with no arms and legs who fell­ overboard on a ship?

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 2:06PM

  7. BOLTON !!!!

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 1:58PM

  8. Cameron your team got beat off Bolton for f$@ks sake ha­ ha

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 1:58PM

  9. Jack: the relevance to the Bolton issue is that YOU my­ friend were the one that made fun of NUFC's­ inability to beat Bolton, i merely inquired as to­ whether this was the very same Bolton that slaughtered­ safc on their own patch 1-4 earlier this season . .­ that's all. It was relevant because YOU brought­ Bolton into the debate!!! Come on Jack, wake up man,­ you're slacking (go and look at­ Post-14)!!!!!
    ps
    liked your 'watchmen' post -­ very droll indeed; schlong, cool word . . . i think i­ might use that!!!

    From cameron w, on Mon 9 Mar 11:28AM

  10. Just a thought Mr. Torrance, if you didn't spend­ every waking hour answering your own questions on here­ and slagging off NUFC on their board you may have time­ to attend a few more games than a paltry 10-12. What a­ cheek calling yourself a busy man.

    From Bob R, on Mon 9 Mar 9:54AM

  11. p.p.s no sign of 'Lee' the Spurs fan who­ derided our team as long ball merchants and said­ we'd get stuffed,guess his silence speaks volumes

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 9:14AM

  12. p.s has anyone seen my latest film it's called­ WATCHMEN,I play a character called 'Dr­ Manhatten'in it.I wasn't happy about all the­ nudity I was asked to do,but once they said I'd be­ glowing blue I was cool with it.They had to digitally­ reduce the size of my shlong however as executives felt­ male audiences in the Newcastle area may feel­ threatened.

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 8:56AM

  13. the whole "Scum" debate,I'm not sure­ where or when it started but I work with drug addicts­ and I can vouch that there are just as many scum in­ Sunderland as there are in Newcastle and Middlesborough­ as I deal with people from all over the NE.The only­ distinction being that the scum from Sunderland support­ a better football team ha ha

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 8:49AM

  14. calm down dears,it's just a debate.Yes Cameron­ that's the same Bolton that beat us then we beat­ them,but I fail to see the relevance of it.SAFC are a­ better team from the top down than either NUFC or Boro­ this season,maybe that should be more relevant to­ you.As for the maggot known as mal-gayforfree I attend­ on average 10-12 games a season,not as many as I would­ like but I'm a busy man and believe or not unlike­ some idiots on here,football is not such a big priority­ in my life.

    From jack torrance, on Mon 9 Mar 8:44AM

  15. He started it....

    From Tony K, on Sun 8 Mar 7:05PM

  16. Sorry. That's take a Valium.

    From PATRICK, on Sun 8 Mar 6:50PM

  17. Come on ladies. Put your handbags down at take a­ Valium.

    From PATRICK, on Sun 8 Mar 6:49PM

  18. downy100. Another numbskull who thinks he's great­ coz he attends games, SO WHAT????? Is that supposed to­ impress anyone? Just another bloater who sits on his­ arse for 90 minutes spouting rubbish, god I loathe­ idiots like you. As for your school of hard knocks, I­ bet ive passed turds that are harder than you gobsh1te

    From Tony K, on Sun 8 Mar 6:30PM

  19. . . . . .. . . and as for that night of 16/05/90 at St­ James Park: i was there and as i recall, the oldest­ pitch invader was about 12 years old! Now just go away,­ read up on your history books, or no, better still­ just, just go away and leave the debating to the grown­ ups.
    'School of hard knocks' indeed, i've­ never heard such tosh!

    From cameron w, on Sun 8 Mar 5:54PM

  20. Thanks for the pic: i frequent sunderland 3/4 times a­ week; if i come across your nasty, worthless­ 'hard' body, i shall remember to lamp it.­
    ps
    post what you like, i've said my piece and i­ shall no longer waste any more of my time on you . . .­ personally, i think you should be put to sleep as you­ represent all that is wrong with society, an out and­ out loser for whom the word 'SCUM' most­ certainly applies.

    From cameron w, on Sun 8 Mar 5:43PM
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