Tottenham 2 Liverpool 1: For a team hoping to get a piece of the action in next season's Champions League, Liverpool still do not cut much of a dash. On Saturday they lost to a Tottenham side that had more guile, more gumption and a greater willingness to graft.
Had the hands of Gary Doherty not been hidden from Uriah Rennie's view when the Spurs defender pawed at Michael Owen's attempt to play a return ball to Emile Heskey in the penultimate minute, Liverpool might have averted defeat with the second penalty of the match.
The decision would have been just, though not the result.
In a stop-go season, which found them in the bottom three after Christmas following four successive defeats, Tottenham would be content to finish above halfway. Having won three league games in a row they may yet aim for something higher.
David Pleat's caretakership continues to enhance the prospects of unsung but useful talent. With Gus Poyet suspended and Ledley King a last-minute casualty, he drafted in Michael Brown, a former Manchester City midfielder signed from Sheffield United.
Brown, 27 next Sunday, is no youthful prospect, but his confident touches suggested a Premiership career is still not beyond him. With Darren Anderton he consistently denied Liverpool parity between the penalty areas, which is no mean achievement against Dietmar Hamann and Danny Murphy.
Pleat clearly believes that gold still lurks in the grey outback of the Nationwide League. "It is the way we are building," he said, "and I wish more managers would give players like this a chance."
Against Liverpool his view was vindicated by Anthony Gardner, once of Port Vale, who not only dominated Tottenham's defence but frequently brought the ball forward intelligently and had a part in each of Spurs' goals. The strength of Gardner's centre-back partnership with Doherty (ex-Luton Town) restricted Owen and Heskey to infrequent glimpses of a scoring opportunity.
Owen's best chance came after four minutes when Heskey beat Doherty to a long, high clearance and set the Liverpool striker up for the sort of sharp shot from which he usually scores. This time, however, Owen dragged the ball wide.
Thereafter, Doherty's hands- on moment apart, the Tottenham pair experienced few problems keeping the England strikers at bay.
"Doherty and Gardner were fantastic," Pleat enthused. "I told them that when they go to bed tonight they should think of each other."
Each of Tottenham's goals was the consequence of a long pass intelligently executed.
Midway through the first half a combination of Gardner's high lob forward and the timing of Robbie Keane's run sent the Dubliner clear towards the left-hand byline. Igor Biscan's ill-timed lunge then brought him down and his penalty had the power to beat Paul Jones.
Nine minutes into the second half Johnnie Jackson gathered a pass from Gardner and laid a long ball up to Helder Postiga, who evaded Biscan to drive in Spurs' second and his first in the Premiership. His growing confidence did much to offset losing Frederic Kanoute.
Harry Kewell's slick goal 15 minutes from the end, allied to the entry of Steve Finnan and John Arne Riise that gave them more natural width, enabled Liverpool to finish with a flourish.
But as Gerard Houllier said, somewhat ruefully: "We don't have to wait until the end of the game to start playing."
