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. Cameron don't you go to games, don't you go to­ the derby matches, i doubt it. Yes maybe my vocabulary­ is limited (do i question your education?) and maybe i­ shouldn't tar everyone with the same brush­ (don't the Toon Army do the same as far as Mackems­ go?)The majority of SAFC fans would i think refer to­ you lot as SCUM mate, and don't think for one­ moment that you lot don't throw coins etc etc­ because you do, i've been there over the years and­ seen it, my upbringing was the 'school of hard­ knocks' mining village, proud of it and proud of my­ team even when we are @#$%. Tony K(nobhead)SHUT UP you­ don't even attend games.
    FTM

    From downy100, on Sun 8 Mar 5:32PM

  2. cameron i'd just ignore downy100 he's just a­ c.ock

    From Tony K, on Sun 8 Mar 4:57PM

  3. downy100
    so what do you call throwing coins at innocent­ women and children, just as the safc fans did to NUFC­ fans at stadium of sh ite this season? The acts of the­ minority are exactly that . . . the acts of a minority­ - those fans who invaded the pitch may well be scum,­ just like those who threw the coins but that does not­ mean we tar everyone with the same brush!!! You, on the­ other hand, are a worthless, poisonous piece of­ garbage, of very limited vocabulary and i wager, a very­ poor upbringing: you bring shame on the many, many­ thousands of decent safc supporters, whom i fear would­ feel rather embarrassed by your posts.

    From cameron w, on Sun 8 Mar 1:58PM

  4. The Mags will always be SCUM ever since they invaded­ the St James Park pitch 16/05/90 to try and get a­ play-off semi final 2nd leg abandoned which SAFC were­ winning 2-0, thats why we call 'em SCUM and thats­ why they will always be known on the streets of­ Sunderland as SCUM!
    FTM
    ps: Tony K(nobhead) you dish­ it out son, learn to take it back or stay off site.

    From downy100, on Sun 8 Mar 12:43PM

  5. And as for injuries jack, well i know you like your­ 'facts' jack so here you go: NUFC's­ injuries are a 'fact' jack, safc's­ 'robbed' refereeing decisions are purely­ subjective: so when we moan, our moans are at least­ validated. The four point gap? I couldn't care less­ if it was 104 points jack, my only concern (as should­ be yours really) is my club's Premier League status­ which is perilous to say the least . . . . . . . . come­ to think of it jack, i've seen club's in far­ better position than safc are at this stage of the­ season, yet still go town. Nobody likes a smug so and­ so jack, so i'd be careful not to count those­ chickens just yet, otherwise they may just come home to­ roost. Now please jack: answer my initial question Re:­ Bolton and a certain 1-4 scoreline huh?

    From cameron w, on Sun 8 Mar 12:02PM

  6. Jack:
    here we go YET AGAIN, avoiding the matter in­ hand!!!
    I repeat, is that the very same Bolton that­ hammered safc 1-4 this season, at sunderland's own­ patch? Now answer the question jack!!!

    From cameron w, on Sun 8 Mar 10:51AM

  7. Don,t knock the chimbonda thing please , he,s got sprit­ and he makes others play , surely we still don,t have­ supporters who want us to stroll around like we did in­ the cup at old trafford . Thats in days gone by when we­ could win like that ! this season we have to have­ people who can show they want to win . jenas has had­ his 2 matches a year when he sweats . HE can go next­ year and anyone else who still thinks its easy to wim­ matches in this league and doesnt know the meaning of­ the word URGENCY !!! Pascale get a a place in the side­ for me along with palacios , o,hara , corluka ,­ woodgate , keane , thats it for me , the others can go­ to the retirement home and yawn all day

    From I, on Sun 8 Mar 10:44AM

  8. Don,t knock the chimbonda thing please , he,s got sprit­ and he makes others play , surely we still don,t have­ supporters who want us to stroll around like we did in­ the cup at old trafford . Thats in days gone by when we­ could win like that ! this season we have to have­ people who can show they want to win . jenas has had­ his 2 matches a year when he sweats . HE can go next­ year and anyone else who still thinks its easy to wim­ matches in this league and doesnt know the meaning of­ the word URGENCY !!! Pascale get a a place in the side­ for me along with palacios , o,hara , corluka ,­ woodgate , keane , thats it for me , the others can go­ to the retirement home and yawn all day

    From I, on Sun 8 Mar 10:19AM

  9. Attention please could Mr Mal-godfrey please proceed to­ terminal 2 departure gate 1,your return flight to Pluto­ will be leaving shortly,thank you.

    From jack torrance, on Sun 8 Mar 9:12AM

  10. Bolton ko'd from FA cup by SAFC,now 4 points ahead­ of NUFC,dominated spurs for 89 mins,NUFC blame injuries­ all the time not officials,mal-godfrey is a protozoa­ that hasn't had an original thought in his­ life.Have a nice day.

    From jack torrance, on Sun 8 Mar 8:56AM

  11. that will do,a late equaliser at a hard place to get a­ result. Now lets get 3 more wins and have a clear out­ in the summer. We need more players like Palacios,and­ less bents and Bentleys!! COYS

    From Wayne, on Sun 8 Mar 5:54AM

  12. Downy100 both teams were denied penelties stop crying.

    From thegingerbreadmen, on Sun 8 Mar 1:41AM

  13. THAT WAS JACK TORRANCE FIRST GAME HE HAS BEEN TOO HOW­ CAN YOU TELL

    From malcolm, on Sat 7 Mar 10:59PM

  14. what is harry doing putting chimbonda at left back ?

    From D B, on Sat 7 Mar 9:42PM

  15. downy100 you are a waste of flesh I cant be arsed with­ you go away

    From Tony K, on Sat 7 Mar 9:06PM

  16. tottenham till i die

    From ranger.gary, on Sat 7 Mar 8:50PM

  17. downy100
    your constant referral to rival fans as­ 'scum' gives your club a bad name; lighten up­ will you!! Have you never heard of the word­ 'banter' AKA 'light teasing repartee';­ come to think of it . . . . . . erm, no you haven't­ have you! Go get a life, get a dictionary while you are­ at it and come back when you can debate, rather than­ simply hurl juvenile, unfounded abuse.

    From cameron w, on Sat 7 Mar 8:32PM
  18. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    Tony K(nobhead) have you ever took money from a bookie­ for a footy bet?
    As for todays game, Spurs were by far­ a better team but they lacked it up front, even with 3­ strikers on they looked like going back to London with­ nowt. Sunderland had a corner on 89mins, we should just­ p iss about with it but it went into the box, we could­ have had a penalty when Jones was flattened by King but­ no the ref gave us F all all match and lo and behold­ Spurs go up the other end and scored. Thats the way it­ goes i guess. 1 point closer to safety and 4 points­ ahead of the Scum.
    FTM

    From downy100, on Sat 7 Mar 8:02PM
  19. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    jack: re. Bolton, is that the same Bolton that beat­ your team 1-4 at your place this season? As for today,­ i listened to the match updates via the fantastic Sky­ Sports Saturday team and according to them, it­ would've been an absolute travesty if Spurs went­ home empty-handed; Sbragia agreed and the stats of 60%­ possession to Spurs and more shots on target certainly­ agree. You should let your emotions settle before you­ come on here post-match jack (like me!); oh and when­ are the safc fans gonna stop this constant blaming of­ the officials, heaven's above, i've never known­ a team to be 'robbed' so many times - it is­ becoming very, very boring.

    From cameron w, on Sat 7 Mar 7:20PM

  20. why did we ever let robbie keane go? and why o why arry­ are you playing pascal chimbonda, hes @#$%, hopefully­ you will play the same team that played boro, as they­ were solid in that game and looked like the great team­ that they are. i know i am im sure i am, tottenham till­ i die.go spurs go.

    From peter_652004, on Sat 7 Mar 7:08PM
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