Murphy jolts Spurs’ European ambitions

MARTIN JOL admitted Tottenham had suffered a blow to their Champions League credentials after allowing two points slip from their grasp at lowly Sunderland.

Spurs had looked on target to cement their fourth place in the Premiership when Robbie Keane fired them ahead after 38 minutes at the Stadium of Light.

They survived a second-half fightback in which Liam Lawrence and Kevin Kyle both passed up glorious opportunities to level, but substitute Daryl Murphy, the former Waterford striker, snatched a point for the home side with a minute remaining.

“Of course,” Jol said when asked if their cause had been damaged. “All the teams around us have dropped points and you need a cushion because we have a very difficult programme ahead of us.

“But we are stronger than we were, so hopefully we can learn from this and win against teams like Wigan next week or Blackburn, and then we have Manchester United and Everton away, so it will be tough enough as it is.

“We will have our disappointments because we are still not a top side.”

Jol, however, admitted that as long as his side’s lead was restricted to just one goal he was never confident the points were safe.

“It’s a game played over 90 minutes-plus, so you always know every team in the Premiership is always capable of scoring one goal,” he said.

“You have to kill them off, and if you can’t do that because you are not playing well or you don’t take your chances or whatever, it’s always a case of scoring the second goal, and we didn’t do that.”

It is perhaps a measure of the progress Spurs have made under Jol they were so disappointed with just a point from their trip to Wearside, but the manager did not agree.

“You can look for positives all the time, but the thing is we were playing against Sunderland, who are probably relegated already, and that is maybe the only danger you have got,” he said. “There is nothing to lose for them.”

Black Cats boss Mick McCarthy was delighted to see his players, who have not won at home in the league all season, come away with something for their efforts.

“Up until the scored it looked like being a 0-0 draw all over,” he said. “I don’t think they threatened us, we’d been equally as good as them.

"But that’s the difference between the sides that are above us and us, the fact that when they get their opportunity rolling across the box, they scored; when we had one in the second half, we didn’t.

“But I thought we were worth a point.”

Opta Fact: This was the first ever Premiership draw between Sunderland and Spurs.

Opta Fact: Robbie Keane has scored five Premiership goals against Sunderland.

SUNDERLAND: Davis, Nosworthy, Breen, Danny Collins, Hoyte, Lawrence (Daryl Murphy 75), Miller, Bassila (Leadbitter 45), Arca, Stead (Le Tallec 90), Kyle.

TOTTENHAM: Robinson, Stalteri, Dawson, King, Lee, Jenas, Carrick, Davids (Murphy 63), Lennon (Huddlestone 86), Keane (Mido 70), Defoe.

Referee: A Marriner (W Midlands).