SOCCER: Tottenham 3 Shamrock Rovers 1FOR 10 remarkable minutes in north London last night Shamrock Rovers threatened to attach their names to another entry in the history book of Irish football.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be but they left with their heads held high and, even after ending up on the losing team, it seems unlikely Stephen Rice will ever be allowed to forget the moment he gave the Irish side an unlikely lead.
Ultimately, Rovers were overwhelmed by the wealth of talent at Harry Redknapp’s disposal with goals from Russian, English and Mexican internationals, three of the six players in the starting line-up who have played senior football for their countries, getting goals in quick succession.
The air still hung heavy with a sense of romance at the Rovers end of the ground afterwards as their large travelling support hailed their players.
Rovers manager Michael O’Neill had gone for pace out wide, opting to leave Rohan Ricketts on the bench to restore Billy Dennehy to his starting line-up.
More surprising was the inclusion of Jim Paterson, who started in place of Enda Stevens at left back.
The pair worked well together with Dennehy, surrendering any ambition to get forward in order to add extra pace to the visitors’ attempt to contain Aaron Lennon while Paterson drifted inside, almost like a third centre back.
Spurs’ gameplan was clear from early on with the ball worked wide to either Lennon or Giovani Dos Santos at every opportunity and the pair then looked to run at defenders. Rovers did their best to meet the challenge on both flanks but it was in the centre that they routinely had to thwart their opponents as Craig Sives and, in particular, Dan Murray, had to make a mixture of well-judged and slightly desperate interventions to protect their goal.
Goalkeeper Richard Brush did terrifically well twice in the opening 20 minutes, saving first from Jermain Defoe whose shot he deflected onto the bar and then from Roman Pavlyuchenko.
The traffic, though, remained pretty much one way for the entire first half. When Spurs pressed their opponents in midfield they generally won possession quickly and the Rovers players seemed to show signs of panic when in possession with Gary Twigg and the midfielders guilty of trying to get rid the ball too quickly. The upshot was Rovers didn’t pose an attacking threat in the first half. Even when Stephen O’Donnell got time and space to line a shot up late on, he fired badly wide.
O’Donnell made a goal-line clearance moments later and the Irish side went in for the break still in a position to spring a surprise.
Five minutes into the second period that’s precisely what they did when Jake Livermore took Gary McCabe down 25 metres out and slightly to the left. After Carlo Cudicini had parried the midfielder’s free, Rice turned Pat Sullivan’s goal-bound follow-up shot past the helpless goalkeeper.
The Rovers fans, having out-sung their hosts all night albeit sometimes with refrains about the financial plight of Bohemians, were delirious.
As the Dubliners allowed their guard to slip, Spurs took full advantage with two close-range headed goals. The first set up by Dos Santos and converted by Pavlyuchenko, the second, involving players in almost identical positions, by Andros Townsend and Defoe.
Dos Santos made it three in six minutes when he finished neatly from an angle after Spurs broke out of defence. O’Neill and his players were furious, though. The Londoners had won possession early in the move after Sullivan had been challenged late by Danny Rose. Despite their complaints, the game was effectively up.
The remaining 25 minutes slipped by with nothing like the same sense of urgency or drama. Ricketts was warmly welcomed back to his former home when he came on but he was never going to significantly change the pattern of things.
Even in defeat, though, the visitors departed with what will surely prove to be the more enduring memories.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: Cudicini; Walker, Bassong, Corluka, Rose (Kane, 80 mins); Lennon (Townsend, half-time), Livermore, Carroll, Giovani; Defoe (Falque, 74 mins), Pavlyuchenko.
SHAMROCK ROVERS:Brush; Sullivan, Sives, Murray, Paterson (Stevens, half-time); Rice; McCabe, Finn (Rickets, 74 mins), O'Donnell (McCormack, half-time), Dennehy; Twigg.
Referee: G Mazeika (Lithuania).
