Tottenham - 1 West Ham - 1: Spurs are feeling the strain of sustaining their ambitions over an entire season and this game itself proved too long for them. Their performance had dwindled and there was too little left, in the third minute of stoppage-time, to deny West Ham their equaliser.
With the visitors' 6ft 6in (197cm) goalkeeper Shaka Hislop distractingly up for a corner kick, organisation and calm vanished. Paul Konchesky delivered an inswinger from the right and Paul Robinson, coming off his line to try to collect, found himself blocked by his centre-backs Michael Dawson and Ledley King before Anton Ferdinand headed home from the six-yard line.
Despite the glee for West Ham fans, they ought also to cringe at the conduct of some in their number. Mido, the Egyptian who scored for Spurs, met with chants of "shoe bomber" and "your mum's a terrorist". Martin Jol, the White Hart Lane manager, contrasted such conduct with the "fantastic" welcome the Spurs supporters accorded Teddy Sheringham on his return to the ground. "What West Ham fans do is their responsibility," he said.
There were lesser types of unease for Spurs, who have not scored in the closing 10 minutes of any game this season. West Ham, by contrast, smack of perseverance and Ferdinand's goal here was the fourth occasion of this campaign in which they had hit the net in the closing minute of regulation time or later.
Jermain Defoe was named on the bench and Robbie Keane was granted his first start by Jol since the League Cup defeat at Grimsby on September 20th. The Dubliner, however, looked rusty, even if it took an instinctive parry from Hislop to stop him from doubling the lead with an overhead kick after 53 minutes.
Defoe appeared eminently capable of adding to the tally had he been allowed more than a paltry 10 minutes when his side were largely in retreat.
The Spurs manager may feel he is trapped in one of those spells when he can only foil himself. His opposite number on the other hand glows with attainment, particularly with West Ham eighth, above clubs such as Liverpool. Alan Pardew senses growth and even the loss of Nigel Reo-Coker to injury has opened up another avenue, with Mark Noble prospering in his first Premiership start.
Sheringham would have pulled West Ham level in the 53rd minute after Matthew Etherington's corner deflected to him off Dawson except Robinson pulled off an outstanding save. So Spurs held the lead Mido had given them in the 16th minute.
The striker had roamed intelligently into the space between Tomas Repka and Ferdinand and, with neither defender reacting, was free to meet Dawson's long ball. The Egyptian would still have posed no threat had Hislop not bounded out into no-man's land, leaving the forward to put a cushioned header over him.
Guardian Service
