Defoe deadly as Spurs turn on style

Tottenham 3 Maribor 1

Just nine hours after he was left out of Roy Hodgson’s Three Lions squad, the Spurs striker put in a top-class performance against Slovenian side Maribor, scoring all three goals to move Tottenham up to second in Group J with two matches to go.

A delighted Defoe said: “As a forward you get judged on scoring goals. It’s the best thing in the world but it was important we won tonight... we are taking this competition seriously.”

The 30-year-old’s excellent display owed a lot to his partnership with Emmanuel Adebayor, who made his first start of the season. Gareth Bale’s efforts also proved key to Defoe’s display, with the Welshman putting in one of his best performances of the season on the left. Bale provided the cross for Defoe to score his first goal early in the first half, but a Hugo Lloris howler allowed Maribor to equalise before the break.

Defoe put Spurs ahead three minutes after the restart from Tom Carroll’s pinpoint pass, and the former West Ham striker killed off the game with 13 minutes left when he got on the end of Bale’s sweeping cross to score.

Spurs were good value for the win, which means they will qualify for the knockout stages if they beat Lazio in Rome in two weeks’ time. Boss Andre Villas-Boas hailed Defoe and had a special word for Bale.

“Gareth was amazing for him and when you have so much quality in the link-up you have the possibility to score and Jermain’s a good goalscorer.”

Fabrice Muamba was at White Hart Lane last night and broke down in tears as he revisited the scene of his horrific cardiac arrest for the first time. Muamba, who has since retired, stunned the football world on March 17 when, playing for Bolton, he collapsed off the ball in the first half of an FA Cup tie against Spurs. The 24-year-old’s heart stopped beating for 78 minutes hours but remarkably he made a full recovery after being rushed by ambulance to hospital.

Last night Muamba dabbled away tears at half-time as he received a huge ovation from the home support.

TOTTENHAM: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton, Lennon (Falque 90), Huddlestone, Carroll, Bale (Mason 86), Defoe (Dempsey 82), Adebayor.

MARIBOR: Handanovic, Milec, Rajcevic, Arghus, Mejac, Cvijanovic (Mezga 69), Mertelj (Dodlek 89),Filipovic, Ibraimi, Tavares (Komazec 76), Beric.

Ref: Antti Munukka (Finland).