Villa on a roll as sorry Spurs slump again

Tottenham 1 Aston Villa 2

Spurs could point to Dimitar Berbatov’s transfer saga contributing to just a point from their opening three games, but this defeat had nothing to do with the Bulgarian — Martin O’Neill’s men had too much pace and dealt with almost everything thrown at them.

And Reo-Coker believes Aston Villa are benefiting from focusing on themselves and not their opponents.

Reo-Coker said: “It’s just hard work and determination. There’s a new lease (of life) at Villa. It’s not about our opponents. We can be as strong as we want to be.”

Reo-Coker’s Villa teammate Gareth Barry admitted Villa made life hard for themselves as they failed to take their chances, saying: “It’s another great victory for Aston Villa.

“We made hard work of it, conceding a sloppy goal. They had a lot of pressure but we saw it out well.”

Martin O’Neill hailed his charges’ display. “I thought it was sensational. The first-half performance was unbelievable. We can attack, can score goals and are a delight to watch when on form like that.

“In the second half we got a bit tired. But we deserved to win. I thought we were exceptional.”

The Northern Irishman played down talk of a push for a top-four place at the end of the season.

“There are still plenty of failings in our team but we have a big slog ahead of us,” he said.

Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes prevented Villa from adding to Reo-Coker’s opener but it was then his mistake that gifted Young his strike in the second half.

Darren Bent’s fortunate effort gave Spurs hope with four minutes left but Villa held on.

It sealed Villa’s first three points in London for four years, and kept Spurs at the bottom of the table.

The corresponding fixture last year resulted in eight goals shared and Spurs’ dramatic comeback completed in the last seconds — and the way both teams started — suggested they were in the mood for more of the same.

Plenty has changed at Spurs since. Not one of their goalscorers on that night are now at the club and Martin Jol, coach at the time, is currently top of the Bundesliga with Hamburg.

Villa broke the deadlock in the fifth minute. Winger Young had fed Gabriel Agbonlahor down the left flank and his low cross found its way to the far post, after John Carew’s attempted flick.

Reo-Coker did not take a touch and stroked the ball in at the near post, his first league goal for Villa.

Luka Modric attempted to get Spurs back into the game with a run and shot that was saved by Brad Friedel — Modric’s only contribution before hobbling off with a knock — but it could have got worse for the hosts.

Reo-Coker had a cross deflected that sliced off Gomes’ post.

Nicky Shorey was booked for a trip on Aaron Lennon as Spurs attempted to get themselves back in the game by breaking forward. They thought they should have had a penalty when Curtis Davies blocked a shot from Roman Pavlyuchenko, who was making his debut after his £13.8million (€17.4m) move from Spartak Moscow.

Gomes kept Spurs in reach with two saves from the top drawer. The first was when Barry got on the end of Agbonlahor’s cross — the ball was behind the Brazilian when he clawed it away. Then Agbonlahor met Shorey’s cross at the far post and Gomes punched to safety.

Spurs head coach Juande Ramos sent on David Bentley at the break and Spurs pushed forward. Friedel was required to tip a swerving Lennon half-volley over the crossbar — but they were two goals adrift within nine minutes of the restart.

Villa’s second started with Barry getting out of trouble in his own territory by tricking Jermaine Jenas and Pavlyuchenko with a sharp turn. He fed midfielder Young on the halfway line and the former Watford player headed towards goal, breezing past Michael Dawson and then firing a skidding shot that crept under Gomes’ dive.

Dawson picked up a booking for a block when Young was running at the hosts at full speed, then the defender was taken off for Giovani dos Santos as Spurs went for broke.

Bent grabbed his goal with four minutes remaining when he failed to get out of the way of Jenas’ shot — the ball struck his ankles and flew past Friedel — but it was a case of too little, too late for Spurs.

TOTTENHAM: Gomes, Corluka, Woodgate, Dawson (Giovani 62), Bale, Lennon, Zokora (Bentley 46), Huddlestone, Modric (Jenas 29), Pavlyuchenko, Bent.

ASTON VILLA: Friedel, Luke Young, Laursen, Davies, Shorey (Gardner 88), Ashley Young, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Barry, Agbonlahor (Harewood 84), Carew (Milner 63).

Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent).