I was just writing the closing notes for the game which were going to say:
A great save from Paul Robinson denied Didier Drogba a certain goal leaving the honours even and a strong belief restored in the Tottenham side.
Then a crazy few seconds and the Lilywhites were sent home heartbroken.
From the start Tottenham looked up for it and came out of the blocks very quickly. Trouble is for all our passing, we didn’t find the strikers and showed very little in the form of clinical finishing throughout the game. Maybe Jol has the right idea if he is looking at a summer swoop for Ruud van Nistelrooy, we need a target man who can not only hold up the ball, but can turn a game with his goalscoring ability.
The first goal fell to Chelsea. Spurs were playing too deeply and passing the ball about too much. Carrick, who should have heeded a warning a few minutes before having given the ball away, committed the cardinal sin of passing across the edge of the box only for the ball to be intercepted and slotted away by Essien – who had only just missed a decent chance to put Chelsea ahead.
Spurs didn’t panic though, they gave as good as they got and although Chelsea enjoyed the most possession – largely because our central midfielders, Carrick and Davids, kept giving the ball away cheaply – we were very much still in the game.
Carrick made up for his average first half with a beautifully floated free kick, headed on by an impressive Dawson to Jermaine Jenas who had made an intelligent run and side footed the ball into the back of the net. A great combination and a super goal, especially with Sven Goran Eriksson watching from the stands. That was goal number five for Jenas in the Prem and the teams went in on level pegging.
The second half Spurs passed the ball around brightly and although not many clear cut chances were created, we looked more than a match for the expensively assembled Chelski. Right towards the end of the second half Jenas had a match winning chance but failed to capitalise. Then came the superb save from Paul Robinson who just got his fingers tips to a powerfully struck ball from a Drogba shot. At that stage it looked odds on for a well earnt draw.
No such luck. Again, Spurs failed to see a game out and gave away valuable points at the death. This time in injury time. You can’t deny the brilliance of the shot and Robinson was certainly not to blame, there isn’t a keeper in the world of football who would have stopped that.
So, a heartbreaking end to an entertaining game. At times like this it is hard to think logically, but I’m going to take some positives from this game. It took a mistake for Chelsea to get their first goal and for large parts of this match we more than matched them. If not for a moment of individual brilliance, we could have taken a well deserved point and if the strikers had been able to make more of an impact, we might even have pushed for a win. Our away record has to improve now, and quickly.
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