|
|
Carling Cup: Gunners steal Cup draw, to go for second leg
Thu. January 10, 2008 02:03 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. -
(SomaliNet) After a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium, Tottenham and Arsenal will go into their Carling Cup semi-final second leg on January 22 all-square.
Theo Walcott's fortunate 79th minute equaliser extended the Gunners' unbeaten record against their North London rivals to 21 matches.
Jermaine Jenas had given Tottenham a deserved first-half lead and Juande Ramos' men - who outclassed the inexperienced hosts for large periods - had enough chances to earn their first victory in N5 for 15 years.
The equaliser came against the run of play when half-time substitute Eduardo sent Walcott, who had come in off the right wing, through on goal. Young-Pyo Lee tracked back and kicked the ball against the young Gunners' chest and the ball trickled into the net off a combination of the teenager's body and arm.
There was still time for Spurs to claim a much deserved victory when Aaron Lennon teed-up Jermain Defoe, just a few moments after the England striker had come on as a sub, but he spooned over the top from little more than six yards.
Arsenal had started brightly with Nicklas Bendtner's header well saved by Radek Cerny, the Czech - standing in for Paul Robinson - diving full length to his left to deny the young Dane.
But Spurs gained confidence as the half progressed with Jamie O'Hara curling a free-kick just past the far post with Lukasz Fabianski beaten before Steed Malbranque squandered a golden opportunity.
Dimitar Berbatov was pulling all the strings for the visitors and he picked out Robbie Keane in the penalty area. The Irishman's touch let him down but the ball fell to Malbranque who contrived to pass his shot past the far post.
Berbatov then stung the fingers of Fabianski with a 25-yard curler and it was no surprise when Spurs did break the deadlock eight minutes before the interval.
Johan Djourou, making his first start of the season for Arsenal, only half cleared a long punt and the ball fell to Berbatov who released Keane behind the Gunners defence. He squared to Jenas who had the simplest of tap-ins.
The Spurs trio combined once more on the stroke of half-time with skipper Keane backheeling to the Bulgarian whose cheeky dink was well held by Fabianski.
Arsene Wenger illustrated his concern by replacing Djourou with Bacary Sagna at half-time but it was Tottenham who continued to press with Jenas' header sending Keane clear only for Justin Hoyte - who had moved to centre-half - to push him wide and force an errant shot.
Clear cut chances were few on the ground but Pascal Chimbonda came perilously close to poking home a second in a goalmouth scramble moments before Arsenal produced a goal from nothing to maintain their proud derby record and give them renewed hope of reaching the final at Wembley.-Eurosport
News Category: Sports
Latest Headlines
|
News 
