Thursday, July 20, 2006

Pre-Season 18/7/06 - Celta Vigo 0 Spurs 2


Robbie Keane completed 70 minutes on his return to action against Celta Vigo on Tuesday night - but Jermain Defoe stole the show in Annecy.

Back after a neck injury kept him out of our first two friendlies against Bordeaux and Nice, Keane was kept on his toes by the close attentions of defender Lequi but still pulled the strings in the first half.

Defoe then entered the fray at half-time and secured our third win in three friendlies at our training camp in France with a two-goal blast in as many minutes.

The first half was a tough test for the Irish star as Lequi barely left his side but typically of Keane, he dropped deep to pick up the ball and was involved in most of our positive attacking play.

That included two inch-perfect passes to release Wayne Routledge inside his full-back - the first ended in what must have been a close offside call as Routledge prepared for a shot on goal, the second ended with Rouledge flat on his face via Lequi but the referee waved away all appeals for a penalty.

At the other end, King and Davenport had to snuff out danger a couple of times and Hossam Ghaly coped well in an unaccustomed right-back role.

Martin Jol made five chances going into the second half and it was barely two minutes old when Defoe stated his intentions, racing onto Routledge's pass but unusually missing the target from 10 yards.

He made amends three minutes later with lightning reactions to open the scoring. Keane was involved again, this time his slide-rule pass released Ziegler into the left channel of the box and the youngster struck across Pinto only to see his effort cannon back off the inside of the post -

Defoe was alert to it however and dived to head home from close range.

It was soon 2-0 and game over as Defoe struck again. This time Tainio picked out his run and Defoe coolly lifted the ball over the advancing Pinto before tucking it into an empty net.

Chances then came and went at both ends - De Ridder went closest for Celta Vigo when his volley zipped just wide while at the other end, Jamie O'Hara, Tainio and Berbatov might have added to the total, but it didn't matter, the job was done.

Celta Vigo:

1st half: Pinto, Oubina, Lequi, Nunez, Angel, Baiano, Gustavo Lopez, Placente, Contreras, Guayre, Vila.

2nd half: Pinto, Richy, Roberto, Guerrero, Perea, Roberto, Vela, Yago Yao, Aspas, Jorge, De Ridder.

Spurs:

Cerny, Ghaly (Lee, 85), Assou-Ekotto, Davids (Tainio, 46), Davenport (Dawson, 46), King (Huddlestone, 46), Routledge (Ifil, 65), Murphy (Defoe, 46), Barnard (Berbatov, 46), Keane (McKenna, 70), Ziegler (O'Hara, 65). Unused subs: Fulop, Barcham.