Not a bad result at all, but ideally this would have been a 1-0 match won by Spurs, the winning score being an own goal from Dimitar Berbatov just so that he could be serenaded one more time in song from the White Hart Lane faithful.
Things didn't look promising for the home side, with captain and defender Ledley King missing the match, and with Jonathan Woodgate being forced out with an injury just 10 minutes in, to be replaced by Tom Huddlestone. With those big departures in the Spurs defense combined with the erratic play from goalie Heurelho Gomes, fans were rightly nervous about how the defense would hold up against Carlos Tevez and Berbatov (Wayne Rooney sat this one out).
Man United certainly were the more determined team, holding on to the ball for long stretches of the game and garnering a large number of corner kicks, but the combination of the make-shift Spurs defense and some inspired play by Gomes kept the visitors off of the scoreboard.
Spurs did not just bunker down and forget about the offensive end of play in an effort to salvage a point, there were a number of fine opportunities throughout the game that kept the Red Devils honest, and goalie Edwin van der Sar had his chances to shine in goal as well.
Play of the game had to be Gomes swatting away a free-kick from Ryan Giggs at the very end of regulation time, a curling shot that looked to be a certain goal. For Gomes, there were fewer punched balls (the best being one that denied Berbatov a goal in the first half, a low cross in the box was deftly knocked away before the sliding Bulgarian could get his foot on the ball) and some clean catches of missed shots. Gomes failed once in awhile getting the ball to his side cleanly, but at least the Man United offense had to start up near midfield rather than in front of the goal on those occasions.
Berbatov was booed relentlessly on his every touch of the ball and at several times found himself missing clear shots on goal by a matter of inches, to the delight of the home crowd.
Once again, a fair enough result for a highly entertaining match that never lacked from excitement, any point these days, especially against one of the big four is certainly welcome. Come on you Spurs!
BBC, GUARDIAN , SOCCERNET
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