Stuttering Spurs lost for words

JUANDE RAMOS is understood to be a man of few words. But the Spaniard is already fluent enough to get a simple message across to the players he has inherited from Martin Jol and whom he saw in action for the first time yesterday.

Minutes after the final whistle had sounded on a morale-sapping home defeat by a relentless but by no means ruthless Blackburn side, he strode into the dressing room and told his new charges: “We start tomorrow morning”.

Fittingly, the new regime will embark from precisely the same spot where the sacked Martin Jol left off last week — third from bottom in the Premier League.

A point would have lifted the Londoners out of the drop zone and ahead of Middlesbrough and Wigan on goal difference but Christopher Samba’s stoppage-time winner denied caretaker manager Clive Allen even that small achievement.

Ramos, watching from a lofty position in the directors’ box, had seen the home side shade the opening 45 minutes. Rovers’ England winger David Bentley should have done much better in the 10th minute when he slipped inside Young-pyo Lee only to miss the target.

The visitors, who have now won six on the trot in all competitions, had goalkeeper Brad Friedel to thank soon afterwards.

First, the American came out to block Aaron Lennon’s shot after Dimitar Berbatov had put the little winger through; then he had to be at his athletic best to tip over Robbie Keane’s flying header.

Keane broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half from the penalty spot, having set up the move that saw Lennon felled in the box by Stephen Warnock.

The Republic striker blasted the spot-kick high past Friedel to justify Allen’s decision to start him ahead of Jermaine Defoe.

Spurs enjoyed a 10-minute spell in which they looked nothing like a side haunted by the spectre of relegation but, after Rovers manager Mark Hughes had swapped tiring veteran Tugay for the more forward-thinking Morten Gamst Pedersen, Benni McCarthy popped up with an equaliser.

His effort from the edge of the box took a deflection off a defender to beat Radek Cerny, in goal for the injured Paul Robinson, with the South African taking his goal tally for the season to seven.

Berbatov, the infamous sulker of Jol’s last days, should have put his side back in front soon afterwards when Keane picked him out in the box but again Friedel was equal to the task and tipped over.

A draw seemed inevitable but Samba is part of the Rovers heavy artillery at set-pieces and when Spurs failed to clear a stoppage-time free-kick, Roque Santa Cruz laid the ball back for the centre back to send a shot curling decisively past Cerny.

“I think it’s the first time we have beaten Tottenham in my time as manager,” a delighted Hughes said. “We are really positive about the season we are having.

“In my time we have always struggled at the beginning and come really strong in the second half of the season. So if our season progresses, the start we have had will be a real bonus for us.

“We never really got going in the first half and I wasn’t too happy at half-time but it was 0-0 and we could go again. They did well to get back into the game and when we equalised I felt there was always a possibility we would go on to win the game.

“Saying that, I would have been happy with a draw. That great strike from Chrissy Samba was an absolute bonus for us.”

Allen, that prolific striker at the Lane in the mid-1980s, insisted the experience had been nothing but a pleasure, despite the result.

“Football is a cruel game,” he noted. “The game is played for 90 minutes and we lost. But I’m not glad it’s over — I could have carried on for the rest of my life. I am very proud to have taken the team today. I enjoyed every second of it.”

Victory did come at a cost for Blackburn, however, with Robbie Savage hurting a knee while fouling Keane. The Welshman now faces two weeks on the sidelines. “It may be that he has to have a small operation just to tidy things up,” Hughes confirmed.

TOTTENHAM (4-4-2): Cerny 7, Chimbonda 7, Kaboul 7, Dawson 7, Lee 7, Lennon 7, Huddlestone 7, Zokora 7, Malbranque 7 (Bent 76, 5), Keane 8, Berbatov 6.

Subs Not Used: Alnwick, Tainio, Stalteri, Defoe.

BLACKBURN (4-4-2): Friedel 8, Emerton 7, Samba 8, Ooijer 7, Warnock 6, Bentley 6, Savage 6 (Mokoena 45, 6), Tugay 6 (Pedersen 60, 6), Dunn 6 (Derbyshire 84, 5), Santa Cruz 6, McCarthy 7.

Subs Not Used: Brown, Nelson.

REFEREE: Rob Styles (Hampshire) 5: There had been plenty of penalty shouts before Mr Styles eventually pointed to the spot. Rovers complained bitterly but their backline had been exposed.

MATCH RATING: *** This was a game that only occasionally sparkled but the sting in the tale will long be remembered by both sets of fans.