It was all about the new boys when Spurs travelled across the pond to take on St Patrick’s Athletic in Robbie Keane’s corner of Dublin. Not only Bent, Bale and Kaboul, all of whom started, but also Taarabt, impressing on his second start for the first team. Having beaten Stevenage Borough 3-1 on the Saturday, it was time to take on the current leaders of the Irish Eircom League in a Thursday evening fixture.
A 1-0 win is hardly the comprehensive victory one might have hoped for, but this is the pre-season and an opportunity to try new things and let the team gel into a new whole. A quite sparkling first half was followed by a more subdued second, but all in all Spurs certainly dominated possession and initiative. Cerny didn’t have a save to make, while the St Pat’s keepers, first Ryan and later Clarke, were kept on their toes with several each.
It is of course important to remember that this wasn’t the Premiership opposition that the team will come up against in the coming season, and Martin Jol was only prepared to label the performance as “ok”, but given the short time the lads have been back and in training together, their team work inspires hope. Kaboul, while not exactly busy enough to be properly tested, looked quite solid – especially while playing next to Gardner. Bale impressed, especially in attacking moves forward, and it was hard to believe that this was a soon to be 18 year-old on his first start for new, bigger, club. He was taken off with a (hopefully minor) thigh injury with 10 minutes to go. Taarabt again showed off his confidence, strength and best dance moves and provided much of the attacking impetus from the midfield in the first half. Bent and Keane already look quite comfortable together up front and had a fluidity which seems promising. The finishing was not quite there yet (even if most of the efforts were on target and saved), but the team as a whole played entertaining and attacking football with good ideas.
After a host of decent chances, a neat pass from Murphy was picked up and finished off in trademark Keane fashion, ensuring that the game ended in a victory and not just a display of Irish goalkeeping skills.
Ryan (Clarke, 46), Murphy, Rogers (Guy, 46), Paisley (Haverty, 83), Maguire (Frost, 46), Gibson, Brennan, Keane (M Foley, 69), M Quigley (C Foley, 46; S Quigley, 59), Barker (Murphy, 69), Kirby (Mulcahy, 46). Subs: Macek.
Cerny, Rocha, Bale (Ifil, 82), Kaboul, Gardner (Dawson , 46), Taarabt (Maghoma, 46), Murphy (O'Hara, 57), Zokora, Malbranque, Bent (Barnard, 69), Keane. Subs: Robinson, Ifil, Daniels.
Goals: Keane (41)
Darren Bent and Gareth Bale, together for the first time in Dublin (image from www.tottenhamhotspur.com)
