Jovial Harry game for a laugh

SPURS need a substantial win against Shamrock Rovers tonight, in tandem with a defeat for Rubin Kazan away to PAOK, if they are to nab the second qualifying place in Group A of the Europa League.

“It’s going to be difficult, very, very difficult,” Harry Redknapp conceded in Tallaght last night. “We can only try to win the game and see what happens from there.”

Redknapp has brought a small squad, with just three subs, to Dublin, leaving stars of the calibre of Luka Modric, Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor at home. But the side he fields tonight could still include seven internationals, among them the likes of Jermaine Defoe, Steven Pienaar, Nico Kranjcar and Giovani Dos Santos.