England duo deliver for Spurs

PETER CROUCH and David Bentley gave Tottenham a valuable three points in their pursuit for a fourth place finish in the Premier League last night.

The England duo scored in either half against Fulham in an entertaining match at White Hart Lane.

Crouch showed true predatory instinct to open the scoring in the first half while Bentley curled home a deflected free-kick.

Bentley has struggled at Tottenham following his big money move from Blackburn Rovers in July 2008, yet he was impressive here and clearly relished his rare opportunity to shine.

Fulham escaped a possible shock in the FA Cup with a 3-1 victory at League Two side Accrington Stanley.

Yet Cottagers’ boss Roy Hodgson also made changes with Toni Kallio and Erik Nevland dropping to the bench while Stephen Kelly was absent.

Hodgson included defender Chris Smalling despite the club reaching an agreement with Manchester United for the transfer of the 20-year-old, which will be completed this summer.

After a rapid start from the home side, Fulham were allowed to find their rhythm and former Tottenham striker Bobby Zamora was only denied by the quick-thinking Heurelho Gomes.

Fulham’s spell of possession was short-lived as Tottenham started playing with renewed confidence.

And Spurs’ pressure paid dividends after 28 minutes as Crouch gave them the lead after some excellent work from Luka Modric.

With the ball seemingly going out of play, the Croatian flicked it over Bjorn Helge Riise’s head and crossed for Crouch, who had a simple finish for this 10th goal of season.

Modric almost doubled Tottenham’s advantage in first half stoppage time, but his dipping effort from the edge of the box sailed over the crossbar.

Any hopes Fulham had of getting something out of this fixture diminished on the hour mark when Bentley made it 2-0 with a defected free-kick.

Smalling and Hughes were penalised for making an unfair challenge on Gareth Bale and Bentley swept home the resulting dead ball with the aid of a big defection off Bjorn Helge Riise.

TOTTENHAM: Gomes 7; Corluka 6, Dawson 6, King 6, Bale 7; Bentley 8, Huddlestone 7, Palacios 7, Modric 7; Crouch 7, Defoe 6 (82);

Tottenham Subs: Keane 6 (82)

FULHAM (4-5-1): Zamora 6 (79); Gera 5 (72), Dikgacoi 6, Murphy 5, Baird 5, Duff 6; Riise 5 (64), Smalling 6, Hangeland 6, Hughes 6;

Schwarzer 7;

Fulham subs: Davies 6 (64), Kamara 6 (72) Elm 6 (79)

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) 7