Birmingham 1-1 Spurs
Jermain Defoe: scorer of Spurs' goal
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By Alistair Potter. |  |
Saturday, 30, Jan 2010 05:14
By James Christie.
Tottenham's habit of conceding a late equaliser continued as Birmingham's Liam Ridgewell scored in the first minute of injury time at St Andrews to cancel out Jermain Defoe's opening goal.
Last weekend it was Leeds in the FA Cup who scored a late leveller against Spurs, today it was the turn of Birmingham to frustrate Harry Redknapp's team.
Scoring opportunities were thin on the ground in the first half at St Andrews, Chucho Benitez engineering and then missing a half chance for Birmingham and David Bentley, linked with a transfer window move away from White Hart Lane, responsible for Spurs' best effort.
Peter Crouch was guilty of some poor ball control with the goal in sight as Spurs' woes continued in the second half.
But the England man made amends soon after, heading on a Gareth Bale cross while on his knees to set up a close-range shooting chance which strike partner Defoe gratefully gobbled up.
Michael Dawson, guilty of giving away a last-gasp penalty when Spurs drew with Leeds last weekend, made a better-timed intervention today - blocking Benitez's on-target effort as Birmingham pressed.
But Spurs again conceded a late equaliser, Cameron Jerome's header across goal slotted home by the unmarked Ridgewell.
Aston Villa made up ground on Spurs by beating Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage. Martin O'Neill's men edged much of the first half against Fulham but, with Luke Young denied a goal when his header was tipped over the bar, they had no goals to show for it after the first 42 minutes.
That was rectified when Gabby Agbonlahor headed into the net from a Stiliyan Petrov cross. The England player almost immediately added Villa's second, shoddy defending from Fulham allowing him the time and space to curl the ball over the goal-line from 15 yards out.
Zoltan Gera tried to pull a goal back for the home side in the second half but shot wide from the edge of the penalty area.
Meanwhile, Hull failed to move out of the relegation zone, leading twice before drawing 2-2 at home to Wolves.
Phil Brown's men went into the lead in the 13th minute, Jozy Altidore's strength on the ball setting up Jan Venegoor of Hesselink who fired a low shot home from 20 yards.
Altidore nearly scored himself on the half-hour mark as Hull continued to establish their supremacy.
So it was some surprise when Wolves equalised early in the second half, Hull skipper Anthony Gardner slicing the ball over his own keeper after an innocuous Wolves cross.
Hull's response was rapid, just two minutes after the re-start they manoeuvred the ball into the Wolves penalty area and earned a spot-kick courtesy of a Ronald Zubar foul. Stephen Hunt, linked with a move to Wolves, picked up the ball and made no mistake from 12 yards.
Venegoor would have increased Hull's lead had he not headed wide from an Andy Dawson cross, a miss he had extra cause to rue when Matt Jarvis's half-hit shot put Wolves on level terms again.