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| Monday, September 16, 2002 16:43 EST |
Tottenham wins wild one
[Reuters]
LONDON -- Anthony Gardner was the unlikely
hero as Tottenham Hotspur went second in the English premier
league with a seesaw 3-2 victory over bottom club West Ham
United on Sunday.
The leggy defender drove in a deflected winner, his first
goal for Spurs, with a minute left at White Hart Lane to snatch
victory against a West Ham side who recovered from 1-0 and 2-1
down to equalize despite having defender Ian Pearce sent off.
In Sunday's other game, 10-man Manchester City fought back
from two goals down with 10 minutes left to draw 2-2 with the Blackburn Rovers in a thrilling encounter at Maine Road.
Spurs' win lifted their points tally to 13 from six games,
one less than Arsenal who beat Charlton Athletic 3-0 on
Saturday.
Tottenham manager Glenn Hoddle was relieved after his side,
who threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at Fulham on Wednesday,
eventually secured their victory.
"We made hard work of it," Hoddle told Sky Sports
television. "We had to churn out the victory. This time we held
out but we've got to do some work on trying to close games out."
New striker Robbie Keane made his debut for Spurs but he,
like the rest of his team, had a first half to forget.
The game exploded into life after Simon Davies calmly swept
home a fine Matthew Etherington cross after 62 minutes.
Frederic Kanoute leveled for West Ham four minutes later
and then Keane fooled Pearce with some lovely skill to win a
penalty. Pearce was sent off and Teddy Sheringham whacked in the
spot kick to make it 2-1 with 19 minutes left.
West Ham bravely equalized again when Trevor Sinclair
diverted in Paolo Di Canio's free kick with Spurs' defense
asleep but the 20-year-old Gardner saved the home side's blushes
when he hammered a deflected shot into the net from 20 meters.
There was similar drama at Maine Road.
Blackburn led 2-0 through David Thompson and Andy Cole
before City's Danny Tiatto was sent off for a dangerous tackle.
The home side looked to be finished but goals by Nicolas
Anelka, after 80 minutes, and substitute Shaun Goater in the
dying seconds salvaged an unlikely point.
Manager Kevin Keegan said Tiatto's sending-off, for an ugly
two-footed challenge on Thompson five minutes after he came on
as a substitute, had paradoxically helped his team.
"That incident changed the game. The players responded. We
came back from the dead really," Keegan said.
But the City boss said he had told Australian Tiatto that
his tackle was "unacceptable", adding: "We should fine him as
much as we can. He didn't help us at all."
Blackburn Rovers manager Graeme Souness was left fuming and
pinned the blame for two City goals on his striker Dwight Yorke
and midfielder Tugay Kerimoglu.
"I am extremely disappointed and frustrated as three points
have escaped us. I am so cheesed off I can't tell you," Souness
said.
"Dwight not running back for the free kick (that led to
City's first goal), I blame him for that. For the second,
Tugay's been (beaten) for the second time in the space
of two or three minutes."
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