Tottenham Report Part 2

By: Gareth Edwards
Date: 21/09/2005

As the players took the field for the second half, Paul Robinson acknowledged the Town fans for their chants of "England No.1" but the Grimsby players treated the Southerners with little of the same generosity.

Martin Gritton replaced Gary Jones to give Town a more mobile option up-front and it was Grimsby who enjoyed much the better start. Michael Reddy almost forged a way through on the left, only to be halted by a fairly robust Naybet challenge but the Moroccan was not on hand to stop Reddy's next opportunity. Gritton beat King in the air to flick on to Reddy, who nodded the ball past his marker and raced through for a one-on-one against Robinson. With the keeper off his line, Reddy went for the chip and the capacity crowd held it's breath, only to see the ball float agonisingly wide.

Then we were reminded of Tottenham's class and flair, with a Robbie Keane effort having to be blocked by some last ditch defending by Rob Jones and Defoe broke the offside trap for the first time and again shot wide across goal. Defoe then became a regular thorn in the Mariners' side and Rob Jones was once again called upon to head away a cheeky flick form the front man and Bolland had to resort to heavy-handed tactics to stop the speed merchant.

Spurs then brought on the young talent of Aaron Lennon, provoking several Beatles references from the Lower Smiths, but the tricky winger looked to hurt Town with his pace against tired legs. Michael Carrick was then also replaced by Sean Davis and Grimsby began to look increasingly tired against the fresh legs of the subs. I t was then when Rob Jones stood up to be counted and provided a colossal performance to repel wave upon on wave of attacks. This inspired the Town ranks and Gary Croft made two vital blocks on Defoe and Jenas to deny spurs opportunities to test Mildenhall.

Town had to dig deep in the ten remaining minutes and Terry Barwick replaced Gary Cohen, who by now had run himself into the ground. With Tottenham's threat looking increasingly threatening, it was then when Town decided to launch a counter attack which would win the game. Parkinson jinked inside and out on the left wing, winning a corner off Stalteri, which he took himself. His poor delivery was headed out by Naybet, nut only as far as Kalala, who hit it sweetly with his right boot, through a crowd of players and, via a slight deflection of Michael Brown's heel, into the Spurs goal to send the Town fans into raptures.

The ecstatic crowd cheered away, as Town saw out the match with few concerns, Steve Mildenhall's stop from a Keane header being the only major scare in the final minutes.

Russell Slade tried to remain calm after the game and even on a historic night like this, will now have to put the cup to the back of his mind and concentrate on masterminding a slightly less-high profile victory against Boston on Saturday, when Town get back to the nitty gritty of the league.

Full Time: Town 1 Spurs 0

Man Of the Match: The majestic Rob Jones, although every player did his bit. Vote for your Man of the Match

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