English Premier League – Second Half Report: Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 versus Fulham
It was Fulham who kicked off the second half but it wasn’t long before they surrendered the possession of the ball back to the home side as in the 46th minute of the match, Etuhu was robbed in central midfield of possession by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luka-Modric-c22857. He
played it to Rafael Van Der Vaart who switched it to Lennon. The winger tried to beat Chris Baird on pace down the right hand side of Tottenham’s attack but the Fulham fullback did well to keep Lennon’s eventual cross out of the Fulham penalty area.
In the 47th minute of the match, it was Bale again who surged up field but his cross was blocked by John Pantsil as the ball went out of play for a Tottenham throw inn. The throw inn that was taken by Bale himself was a poor one as Fulham regained
possession of the ball. However, Mark Hughes’ team were once again wasteful with their midfield link up play as Spurs sneaked in to nick the ball away. In the 49th minute of the match, Fulham embarked on their first proper attack as Dickson Etuhu
played in Damien Duff. The winger played a one two with Clint Dempsey but his eventual cross was well gathered in by Gomez.
In the 51st minute of the match, Tottenham broke forward in counter attack as Gareth Bale beat John Pantsil on pace and then played in a well timed cross towards Rafael Van Der Vaart. The Dutchman went past two Fulham defenders and then tried
to play in Aaron Lennon but the pass was intercepted by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chris-c9006 Baird who cleared the ball away.
In the 52nd minute, Baird switched Fulham’s offensive move with one sweeping pass as he played a long ball towards Damien Duff. The Irish winger gathered the ball in spectacularly and then unleashed a powerful drive towards Tottenham’s goal but
the effort went just above the cross bar as the score line remained at 1-0 to the home side.
In the 54th minute of the match, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Danny-c10193 Murphy tried to play a lobbed pass towards Andy Johnson but the ex-Liverpool midfielder's pass was a very wayward one as Tottenham regained possession of the ball. Fulham made their way back into the match
by keeping more possession of the ball in the early stages of the second half but they found it really hard to materialize the possession into proper goal scoring opportunities.
In the 56th minute of the match, Clint Dempsey was brought down by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gareth-Bale-c14422 as the White Hart Lane booed the referee’s decision to award Fulham a free kick which was quite near to the Spurs penalty area. The free kick that was taken by Baird
was a weak one as it rebounded off http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Dawson-c25288 and then fell to Danny Murphy but the veteran playmaker was wayward with his shot as Tottenham regained control of the ball. In the 60th minute of the match, Tottenham broke forward in numbers as
Aaron Lennon was played in by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vedran-Corluka-c35947. The winger used his pace to go past Baird but then was stopped in his tracks by Murphy who slid in to deny the Englishman a goal scoring opportunity.
In the 62nd minute of the match, it was Clint Dempsey who found himself in space in front of the Tottenham penalty area. The American forward let loose a powerfully hit shot towards Tottenham’s goal but the effort was an inaccurate one in the
end as Tottenham breathed a sigh of relief.
In the 63rd minute of the match, Fulham almost drew level with the home side as Dickson Etuhu played in Andy Johnson who spurned off http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/William-Gallas-c36874 to get a shot away towards Gomez, the Brazilian goalkeeper palmed the ball away but Dawson’s intervention
was required to save Tottenham’s blushes as Clint Dempsey was closing in to score on the rebound. In the 64th minute, Clint Dempsey tried his luck on Tottenham’s goal once again but Spur's shot stopper did well to hold onto the effort as Tottenham
weathered another Fulham attack.
From the 65th minute onwards, Fulham piled on pressure on the Tottenham’s goal but this offensive pileup was deflated in the end thanks to Pantsil’s cross that evaded everyone to go out of play for a Tottenham goal kick. In the 66th
minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Pavlyuchenko-c31639 with the English striker. In the 70th minute of the match, the play was called to a temporary halt by the referee as William Gallas went down
with a hamstring injury for Tottenham.
Tottenham’s medical staff ushered the French defender off the field for treatment and bandaged his hamstring heavily as Gallas immediately returned back to the action for Spurs. In the 71st minute, Modric tried to play in Gareth Bale but the midfielder
failed in his ambitious pass as Fulham regained control of the ball. The game was played at a very low tempo in the second half of the match as both the teams looked tired towards the end.
In the 74th minute of the match, Modric brought the ball forward and then passed it to Corluka. He played a quick one-two with Lennon and then cut the ball across the Fulham penalty area for Bale who was just over the bar with his finish as Tottenham
failed to add another goal to their one goal lead. In the 76th minute of the encounter, Tottenham were awarded a corner kick by the referee as Hughes stopped Modric going clean through on goal.
The corner kick was fired in by Van Der Vaart as Crouch headed the ball down towards Dawson. The defender managed to switch his body quickly in order to play unleash a powerful volley which missed the Fulham goal by some distance as the score line remained
at 1-0. In the 80th minute of the match, Corluka gave away a silly free kick near the Tottenham penalty area as he pushed Andy Johnson to the ground. The ensuing set piece was taken by Danny Murphy as he played the ball into the Tottenham penalty
area. However, it was easily defended by Spurs as Gareth Bale headed the ball away.
In the 82nd minute of the match, Zoltan Gera was introduced onto the field by Fulham as they made their first change of the match; it was Damien Duff who gave way for the Hungarian midfielder. Tottenham also made their final substitution of the
match in the same minute as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jermaine-Jenas-c18362 came on in place of Rafael Van Der Vaart for the home side.
In the 83rd minute of the match, Spurs showcased brilliant last ditch defending on two occasions as at first Etuhu crossed into the Spurs penalty area for Simon Davies. The midfielder’s shot was blocked by Dawson, the rebound fell to Dempsey whose
effort was once again blocked by Dawson as Tottenham maintained their one goal lead.
In the 84th minute, Tottenham embarked on a dangerous counter attack of their own as the ball fell to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aaron-Lennon-c3062 but poor decision making from the English winger meant that he spurned the opportunity fashion Tottenham’s second goal of the match
as Brede Hangeland came away with the ball.
In the 86th minute of the match, Assou Ekotto was booked by the referee as he pulled back Zoltan Gera’s shirt. In the 89th minute of the encounter, Tottenham threatened once again as Jermaine Jenas played the ball to Modric who tried
to add to his team’s advantage by trying his own luck on goal but the Croatian was weak with his final effort. There were only three minutes of added time at the end of the match by the referee due to the lack of any goal celebration or injury breaks.
Tottenham wasted most of the added time by taking the ball towards the corner flag in the added time as the match eventually came to a halt as Tottenham secured a fine 1-0 victory which made it three wins out of three matches for Harry Redknapp’s side over
the holiday period. For Fulham, it was a case of too little too late in the end as they never really did enough to gain anything from the match as a whole. By their win at the White Hart Lane, Spurs progressed to the 4th place spot in the English
Premier League table.
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