Sunday, May 22, 2011

score Tottenham 2 vs 1Birmingham City Report

World Top Stories News - score Tottenham 2 vs 1 Birmingham City Report : A superb Roman Pavlyuchenko double sent Tottenham into Europe and Birmingham City into the Championship at the end of a topsy-turvy final day of the Premier League season.

The Russian scored stunners either side of a Craig Gardner strike which looked to have saved the visitors until a late goal at Molineux for Wolves forced them to chase the game and leave the door open for the Russian to lash home the hammer blow and send Birmingham down with Blackpool and West Ham.

The visitors were on the back foot for large spells of the opening half as they jockeyed for position with those playing elsewhere and above all else, kept Spurs at bay ahead of what would become a frantic second-half.

It took 10 minutes for either side to muster a foray on goal, Spurs obliging when Sandro profited from excellent hold-up play by Peter Crouch to drive low at goal from an almost impossible angle, forcing Foster to save with his legs. Two minutes later, the Brazilian was at it again, hitting a snap-shot from 18 yards to this time sting Foster’s fingers.

McLeish’s men seemed intent on squashing Spurs out of possession in advanced areas, maintaining two rigid banks of four to thwart the north London outfit whenever they ventured into blue territory and Chilean attacker Jean Beausejour regularly funnelled back to complete a full 10 man defensive unit for the likes of a typically probing Luka Modric to break down. An approach perhaps befitting of a side with only two Premier League away wins to their name this season.

The Blues offered only sporadic break-aways – usually contrived through long clearances toward Cameron Jerome - and thus any theories expectant of a Birmingham onslaught to ensure their own survival were quickly deemed null and void as their supporters' finest first-half moment came at the news of Ji-sung Park’s opener at Old Trafford.

Spurs continued to look most likely and on 25 minutes, missiles from Sandro and Defoe were blocked before the quickly recycled ball allowed Aaron Lennon to loft a ball into the area for Crouch to divert goalwards and Defoe to head into the grateful arms of Foster.

Their side building one way traffic at a relaxed pace, Spurs fans began heckling travelling supporters upon news of a Charlie Adam leveller at Old Trafford and were almost able to celebrate their own cause when Younes Kaboul whipped a ball across goal which Foster was forced to palm away from goal. Minutes later, as first-half injury time ebbed away, the former Watford keeper fielded well from range – clutching a Luka Modric drive to his chest.

Sandro looked even more assured in the heart of the Tottenham midfield and only a brave lunging block by Craig Gardener could deny the 22-year-old another effort on goal as he looked to take aim from 12-yards. Gardener’s block the epitome of the Blues defensive determination in an opening 45 minutes in which they added positional discipline to rugged tenacity – frustrating Harry Redknapp’s troops with only momentary scares.

If the first-half started tamely, a second-half which almost guaranteed final day Premier League drama started viciously for the struggling away side when Pavlyuchenko arced his first-time effort around the helpless Foster from 25 yards to cast major doubt over the league status of the League Cup winners.

Only introduced on 40 minutes when Peter Crouch departed with a head injury, Pavlyuchenko’s ninth of the season was as instinctive as it was clinical, as the Russian pounced on a loose ball when Craig Gardner stumbled in possession.

Just as clinical to Blues hearts was the White Hart Lane roar nine minutes later when news of Blackpool’s second goal at Old Trafford broke. A revelation which placed Alex McLeish’s men firmly in the drop zone and prompted a change in stance as they searched for a life-saving goal.

Roger Johnson almost delivered that line on 63 minutes when he powerfully met a Sebastian Larsson corner to head marginally off target, but Blues joy was soon at fever-pitch when Gardner fielded a headed clearance 20-yards from the Tottenham goal before smashing left-footed through a sea of bodies and past a helpless Cudicini. Heaven for Alex McLeish’s men and hell for Midlands neighbours Wolverhampton Wanderers who were themselves instantly sucked into the relegation cheap seats.

Blues fans watched on with shredded nerves as each Tottenham thrust represented a dagger to their own Premier League being, but a slightly wayward Sandro volley and a stunning block by the excellent Curtis Davies on a Niko Krancjar strike kept the score at parity.

There was however to be no stopping Pavlyuchenko’s second of the day as Spurs maximised the spaces left as a result of Birmingham’s need to score and the Russian’s 10th of the season eclipsed his superb ninth as he smashed the ball in off the underside of the crossbar from 20-yards.

The strike sparked scenes of finality at White Hart Lane as Roger Johnson sat hunched on the halfway line as the prospect of Championship football became total reality for Birmingham City, despite their own, and Tottenham’s qualification for the Europa League.

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