When I applied for tickets for this fixture from our paltry allocation, there were three reasons to believe that we’ve get something out of it. We won at White Hart Lane last season, we’ve generally done well against Spurs since we got promoted and now that we have a team with a real backbone and the ability to be disappointed to only draw at Old Trafford, there was no reason why we couldn’t pick up three points from Tottenham away.

But in the meantime, the in between time, Cattermole did his knee, Cana was suspended (inevitable I know, but he’s a massive influence) and Jones, well the chilled out man just snapped. No excuses, the lad made a meal of it, but you can’t raise your hand to an opponent in an aggressive manner these days.

Most teams would struggle without three such influential players, but with our squad paper thin to begin with and Zenden also injured, we were, without doubt, looking severely weakened going into this one.

However, my glass is always half full, so I was looking forward to a trip to London and to seeing how well some our fit and fringe players would cope against Tottenham. I could have done without the hangover like, but there was no point in moaning about it en route because I’d get no sympathy.

But after a fairly eventful and speedy journey, I recovered my senses in time to lose them again by downing a few quick pints before kick off and by the time the lads ran out of the tunnel to a red and white roar I was well up for this one.

Regular away game attendees will see a trend here. We go down to London/Manchester/Wherever and have a good day, a good drink and then when the match begins that’s when it all starts to go wrong!

We lined up with Gordon in goal, Bardo and Macca as fullbacks and Da Silva and Turner as twin centre backs. The midfield was flooded with Reid, Rico, Henderson, Campbell and Steed, leaving Bent alone up front.

All you need to know about this game is that the result hinged on a penalty which Darren Bent won at the start of the second half when we were losing one nil. The Spurs keeper Gomez brought him down and should have been sent off for his actions, but wasn’t and he saved the spot kick smartly from Bent.

Not long after that they made it two and that was game over. At the same time we bossed much of this match, but with a five man midfield we had the majority of possession, yet little penetration. Back to the drawing board with hopefully a stronger squad come January.

Final Score: 0-2

ALS Man of the Match: Andy Reid

Chris Hardy (Loves Claire Tully)

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