Spurs failed to win at St. Andrews, as Birmingham’s Gardner salvaged a point, 10 minutes from time. With Van der Vaart and Kaboul injured, Redknapp made some changes in the first XI and brought in Bassong and Defoe. You can watch the goals here.
Peter Crouch could have scored within the first 15 minutes when he picked up Aaron Lennon’s cross, brought the ball down, tried a shot., only to his see his effort turned around the post by Ben Foster.
Birmingham retaliated when Lee Bowyer played a chip-over-the-top pass to Stephen Carr but his shot sailed over the bar. Ridgewell saw the yellow card in the 18th minute when he brought down Welsh wonderkid Gareth Bale. Bale arrowed a free-kick into the area and Foster punched the ball only as far as Bassong who hammered the ball into the net.
Tottenham built on their possession and looked likely to extend the lead when Aaron Lennon delivered a cross for Crouch who failed to control the ball. It was a poor effort from Peter Crouch. If Peter had controlled the ball better, Spurs would have been two goals ahead.
Garned had the chance to equalize in the 33rd minute when he drilled a low shot just past the post. Bowyer outwitted Palacios minutes later but his shot was well off the mark.
The second half began with Birmingham looking the more lively and an early cross, saw Ridgewell’s attempt saved by Gomes. Mcleish brought Zigic on for Kevin Fahey, turning the Blues formation into 4-4-2. It was an inspired move for Birmingham, as they started to see a lot more possession of the ball.
Defoe has a glorious chance to double Spurs’ lead after turning inside Ridgewell and Johnson only to see his effort wide. It was am amazing run from Defoe! He should have scored! Ridgewell could have equalized when his close range shot was blocked superbly by Gomes who threw his body on the line to deny the Birmingham player.
Birmingham leveled one minute later, in the 81st minute when Gardener found the end of a Zigic’s cross to head the ball past Gomes. It was Gardner’s fifth goal of the campaign. 1-1 the final score and the result leaves Tottenham in fifth place, three points behind fourth placed Manchester City.
Here are Redknapp’s words related to the game according to premierleague.co.uk:
“At half-time, I couldn’t see any other result other than three points for us. We dominated the first half but they brought Zigic on and that’s the best I’ve seen him play. It feels like a missed opportunity. I thought we would win here and at half-time I felt sure we would.
I said at half-time that there were more goals for us, to keep going forward, but we started dropping deeper. Gardner kept making runs forward and eventually got on the end of something. The same happened last year when they got a last minute equaliser but this is not an easy place to come and Alex gets everything out of them week in and week out.”
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