Brilliant Bale delivers at the death

West Ham 2 Tottenham 3

Gareth Bale once again inspired his side to victory, sweeping home a stunning last-minute winner to send Tottenham up to third and ruin West Ham’s night to remember Bobby Moore.

Villas-Boas, cast as a failure when he was sacked by Chelsea last season, has now gone 11 Premier League matches without tasting defeat; his best run in English football.

This victory also set a club record eighth away win for Villas-Boas’ side. He may not like facts and figures, but they are smiling on him at present. Here’s another — Bale has scored six of Tottenham’s last seven goals in the Premier League.

One man team? Not quite, but a man on a mission.

Villas-Boas said: “Bale is at a tremendous level this season. Things can only get better and that is down to him and his motivation. You have to recognise he is having a great season and he has to be a consideration (for player of the year) for sure. He is very, very special.

“The team is very committed to our objectives. We have built a distance to Everton of nine points and now we have an opportunity to extend the gap on Arsenal to seven points. The conditions were there for us to play this game seriously.”

Away from the numbers, football has a remarkable propensity to not only set up a wonderful script, but to provide the cruellest of twists.

On a night when West Ham celebrated Moore, Joe Cole’s goal just before the hour looked like providing the perfect way to commemorate the anniversary of his death.

An academy product scoring in his second spell for the club to mark the anniversary of the departure of West Ham’s cherished son.

But Bale spoiled the fairytale in that ruthlessly brilliant way of his. A quite stunning left-foot effort settled it in the 90th minute, after Gylfi Sigurdsson had equalised 15 minutes previously to give the fairytale its twist.

Villas-Boas labelled statistics ‘useless’ before the match but everywhere he looks, they favour him. Bale has 19 goals for the season and he will be crucial to their hopes of a top four finish.

This was not the way West Ham wanted to mark the passing of Moore. The England icon, World Cup winning captain and East End deity died 20 years ago but Sam Allardyce’s men could not provide a win for Moore’s grandchildren, who led the teams out, or for the rest of those eager to mark the years since his death with a crucial victory.

Allardyce said: “You’ve got to admire the quality of the goal, no matter if you are a Tottenham fan or a West Ham fan. The player is a big difference for Tottenham. We have heard a lot about Michu and Robin van Persie but nobody is doing more than Bale.

“I am gutted for the lads and everyone tonight. We wanted a result for the Bobby Moore tribute.”

There is usually a propensity for a team to become consumed with emotion when remembering a hero and West Ham proved the theory early on. Bale, who will be playing Champions League football next season either as a Spurs player or elsewhere, profited from Guy Demel’s error and he rifled past Jussi Jaaskelainen — superb despite conceding three — to silence the tormentors in the stands who baited him.

The night air filled with travelling excitement and home trepidation whenever Bale received the ball but Scott Parker’s error just before the half hour allowed West Ham to settle.

Parker dived in on Andy Carroll, who collapsed to the floor before slamming home the resulting penalty for his third West Ham goal, two of which have come against Tottenham.

Cole’s neat turn and shot looked like providing a fitting tribute to Moore but when Sigurdsson scrambled home an equaliser, West Ham wilted and Bale made them pay with a searing 30-yard strike to break home hearts.

WEST HAM: Jaaskelainen 9; Demel 5 (Pogatetz 72), Collins 6, Reid 6, O’Brien 5; Diame 6 (Collison 83), O’Neil 6; Jarvis 6, Cole 7, Nolan 5 (Taylor 35, 6); Carroll 7

TOTTENHAM: Lloris 7; Walker 6, Caulker 7, Dawson 6, Vertonghen 6; Lennon 5, Parker 5 (Livermore 87), Dembele 5 (Carroll 75), Bale 8; Holtby 6 (Sigurdsson 56, 6); Adebayor 5

Ref: Howard Webb.