Crouch provides the spur

Tottenham 4 BSC Young Boys 0:TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR exercised such control that they could savour the prospect of the Champions League long before the formalities were completed. If minds had strayed to today's draw for the group stage it would have made little difference.

Gareth Bale was outstanding, even if it is Peter Crouch who may go down in the lore of the club for his hat-trick. The opposition were not equipped for this and eventually had Senad Lulic dismissed after he conceded a penalty.

Much as the visitors must have supposed they could resist and gradually raise Tottenham’s stress levels, Young Boys dealt badly with an early and elementary threat. Bale’s corner from the right was partly cleared back to him and the winger curled the ball deep to the back post where an unmarked Crouch headed home.

The brittleness that had reduced the lead Vladimir Petkovic’s side held in the first leg could not be disguised here.

Young Boys must have been dismayed to be behind on away goals so soon in the second leg and their initial desire was merely to settle down and establish some passing play. Just when they had begun to achieve that they fell 2-0 behind even though it seemed that Jermain Defoe had used his left arm to control the ball before taking his goal from Bale’s pass in the 32nd minute.

Regardless of the visitors’ sense of injustice, Young Boys then needed two goals to advance in the tournament.

The Tottenham manager could not have been any clearer about the key role Defoe would have on this occasion. Harry Redknapp even delayed the groin surgery that the striker needs so he could take part.

There was nothing to be rued about the decision, even if Defoe then miscued when Aaron Lennon presented him with the opportunity for a second in the 36th minute.

There was some encouragement for Young Boys, and after Xavier Hochstrasser’s chip went marginally wide in the 36th minute, Henri Bienvenu got in front of Michael Dawson and headed beyond the post.

Tottenham, while escaping harm, would have remembered then how much was at stake. They last featured in this tournament, or its ancestor, when Benfica knocked them out of the European Cup in the 1962 semi-finals.

Much as Redknapp has improved the squad, that defeat in Bern exposed callowness. As it was, Young Boys were rueful then and Tottenham pounced on initial anxiety here.

The immediate objective after the interval must have been to maintain the sense of security. Tottenham, appropriately, had given this match the highest priority. Ledley King was in the heart of the defence. In view of his knee condition, the captain had been excused the match at Stoke City and will almost certainly be unable to take part against Wigan Athletic.

Resilience, all the same, was undermined when the goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes appeared to pull a muscle and made way for Carlo Cudicini.

By then it was essential for Young Boys to provoke alarm but the identity of the man between the posts was not to be an issue for Tottenham. The action was often in the opposition’s goalmouth and Crouch, for instance, was denied another goal when his effort was blocked.

A third goal did arrive after 61 minutes, with an untroubled Crouch heading past Marco Wolfli from a corner. The scorer would be the first to admit that achievement comes more readily when the set-pieces are of so high a calibre. That corner had once more been executed by Bale, a 21-year-old coming into his own.

If Tottenham were at ease, Crouch had the edge of a man in sight of his hat-trick. It was claimed from the penalty spot after Bale had caused havoc before being brought down by Lulic.

It was a night Tottenham could savour long before the end of the match.

Guardian Service

TOTTENHAM: Gomes (Cudicini 46), Bale (Kranjcar 82), Huddlestone, Lennon, Palacios, Crouch, Defoe (Pavlyuchenko 62), Dawson, Corluka, King, Assou-Ekotto. Subs not used: Kaboul, Jenas, Keane, Giovani. Booked: Palacios, Pavlyuchenko.

BSC YOUNG BOYS: Wolfli, Sutter (Regazzoni 62), Costanzo (Marco Schneuwly 61), Tape Doubai (Christian Schneuwly 82), Bienvenu, Spycher, Lulic, Affolter, Degen, Hochstrasser, Jemal. Subs not used: Burki, De Pierro, Raimondi, Mayuka. Booked: Lulic, Degen.

Referee: Laurent Duhamel(France).