Premiership: Ferdinand feeling lucky

Les Ferdinand does not do the lottery - but he promised to go out and buy a ticket tonight.

And the way things are going for the Tottenham striker right now, do not bet against him scooping the jackpot either.

Ferdinand, who was 35 last weekend, scored a nine-minute hat-trick to help Spurs demolish Bolton 6-0 in the Worthington Cup on Tuesday.

He followed that up today by scoring the 10,000th goal in the history of the Premiership as Spurs gave Fulham a 4-0 thumping.

Ferdinand scored two goals in the first week of the Premiership for Newcastle against Southampton nine years ago, and was the second player to score 100 goals in the revamped league after Alan Shearer.

As a reward for his landmark goal, apart from a place in the record books, Ferdinand won £10,000 to donate to the charity of his choice, and it will be split between two cancer charities.

‘‘I don’t do the lottery but I think I might buy a ticket tonight,’’ joked Ferdinand. ‘‘It was my 35th birthday last Saturday and things are supposed to be going downhill, but it has been quite a week for me.

‘‘When I scored the goal I heard a big cheer and Steffen Freund came up to me to congratulate me. I hope my dad had a bet on me because apparently I was 33-1 to get the goal.

‘‘I wasn’t aware before the game of the fact there was £10,000 as a prize and I hope to split it between a breast cancer charity and the Teenage Cancer Trust, because I lost my mum to cancer 12 years ago.

‘‘It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but it is a great honour because I have been around for some time now.’’

Ferdinand, who described his goal after 19 minutes as a ‘‘two-yard thunderbolt’’, has been carrying an injury but will now have the fluid drained from his left ankle on Monday.

Despite him not being fully fit, Tottenham boss Glenn Hoddle wanted Ferdinand to start today, as he felt he was on a high this week.

‘‘I discussed it with Les and although he was only 75% fit I wanted him to start today coming off the back of his hat-trick on Tuesday,’’ said Hoddle.

‘‘Les is in the autumn of his career, he has had a great week and it is wonderful for a Spurs player to get that goal.’’

Spurs beat Fulham thanks to some clinical finishing, with Darren Anderton, Simon Davies and Sergei Rebrov claiming the other goals.

Hoddle added: ‘‘We had a blemish losing at Charlton last week but we have bounced back with 10 goals and two clean sheets in two games, and that is a great response.

‘‘I can’t ask for more than that, especially against a side who went to Anfield and drew 0-0 up there, so this is a significant result.’’

Fulham boss Jean Tigana felt his players looked tired after playing three games in a week.

They beat Everton 2-0 last Saturday then held Premiership leaders Liverpool to a goalless draw at Anfield on Wednesday.

‘‘That is the first time we have lost by such a margin,’’ said Tigana. ‘‘We had a bad day against an efficient team.

‘‘It is the first time we have played three matches in a week at this level and my players were very tired today, they had no reaction and no legs.

‘‘Our problem is that we need to score more. Spurs had two chances in the first half and scored them both. We had two chances and missed them both. That is the difference at this level.

‘‘I think possibly we need some new blood, but I won’t be going out and signing anybody tonight, that is something for the future.’’