Tottenham 2 Spartak Moscow 2:TOTTENHAM'S EUROPEAN adventure remains alive thanks to a spirited second-half revival. Goals from Luka Modric and Tom Huddlestone enabled Harry Redknapp's men to nullify a first half during which they were largely outplayed.
Redknapp may have insisted that he was determined to go into the New Year "fighting on all fronts" but he did admit before kick-off that he dislikes the way this tournament "drags out", and with injuries compounding his eagerness to keep players fresh for the weekend trip to Newcastle, Spurs' starting line-up featured six changes from the side that had begun against Manchester United last Sunday.
Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes looked anything but comfortable in the 23rd minute as he and Gilberto betrayed their lack of familiarity with each other and gifted Artem Dzjuba a goal. The midfielder and goalkeeper each left a Gareth Bale pass for the other, allowing Dzjuba to dart in and knock the ball past Gomes from eight yards.
Spurs were ragged at this stage and played a big part in their own downfall, allowing a run-of-the-mill ball to break to Dzjuba, who nutmegged Zokora before outfoxing Gomes with a feint and tapping into an empty net.
Spurs improved in the second -half and Modric atoned for an earlier miss after Aaron Lennon jinked and teased his way into the box before cutting the ball back to Modric, who swept it into the net from eight yards to claim his first goal for Tottenham and prolong their presence in Europe.
Tottenham's transformation continued, and in the 73rd minute Huddlestone headed powerfully into the net.
TOTTENHAM: Gomes, Gunter, Zokora, Dawson, Gilberto (Lennon 46), Bentley, Huddlestone, O'Hara, Bale, Modric, Campbell. Subs Not Used: Cesar, Assou-Ekotto, Bostock, Parrett, Dervite, Obika.
Spartak Moscow: Pletikosa, Parshivlyuk, Fathi, Jiranek, Rodriguez, Shishkin (Bazhenov 85), Kovalchuk, Ryzhkov (Grigorev 60), Maloyan (Zotov 73), Saenko, Dzjuba. Subs Not Used: Dzanaev, Stranzl, Pavlenko, Prudnikov.
Referee: Pedro Proenca (Portugal).
