Republic of Ireland star Robbie Keane helped move Tottenham four places up the Premiership table on Sunday by scoring the winner in a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at White Hart Lane.
Keane produced his goal nine minutes from time after an impressive late equalizer from Rohan Ricketts had cancelled out a strike by Villa's Marcus Allback.
PHOTO: AP
Spurs rose to 12th place after only their fourth win from 13 games while Villa remain firmly entrenched in the relegation zone third from bottom.
David Pleat, the Tottenham caretaker manager, was unhappy with the performance despite the result.
"We didn't play well enough. It was a difficult game, but we had the stickability to come through it. We certainly won't win any leagues that way.
"We believe that when we get [Frederic] Kanoute, [Jamie] Redknapp and especially Simon Davies fit, we can be much, much higher in this league."
Villa manager David O'Leary suggested that Spurs did not deserve the victory.
"We've gifted Tottenham the three points really," O'Leary said. "We got them back into it with silly mistakes.
"We had poor defending on the second goal. And if you give Keane time and space he's going to punish you."
O'Leary is still bidding to claim Villa's third win of the season after five draws and six defeats from 13 games and added: "It's a cruel game, three points can make a lot of difference but we have to get over it."
The match did not really spark into life until after the interval when Allback struck his first goal of the season for the Birmingham side.
Villa winger Peter Whittingham floated the ball into the 18-yard box and Swedish international Allback steered a clinical header past Kasey Keller.
However the goal had a positive effect on Pleat's team, and the first sign of an equalizer came when Taricco's cross just evaded Keane in front of goal, with Postiga again failing to get a follow-up shot on target from close range.
Pleat sent on Ricketts and Bobby Zamora and the move proved inspirational as the young midfielder cut inside Mark Delaney and steered a superb shot into the bottom corner of Sorensen's net from 15 yards on 78 minutes.
Minutes later Keane, who grabbed a brace for his country in midweek, gave the home fans more reason to cheer when he received the ball with his back to goal on the edge of the box, swivelled past a flat-footed Ronny Johnsen and buried a low drive into the back of the net.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was