Tottenham Hotspur 1, Norwich City 1
Robert Snodgrass scores Norwich City's equaliser. Picture: Andrew Tobin / Focus Images
David Cuffley
Saturday, September 1, 2012
5:18 PM
Robert Snodgrass struck five minutes from time with his first goal for Norwich City to earn them their first away point of the Premier League season – the very least they deserved after more than matching big-spending Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.
The Canaries came close to taking the lead in the opening half when they created the two best chances, Russell Martin striking the bar with an early header and Spurs keeper Brad Friedel brilliantly keeping out a diving header from Snodgrass just before the break.
City went close again after the break when Friedel denied Anthony Pilkington, but it was the home side who went ahead with just over 20 minutes to go.
New £15m midfield signing Mousa Dembele, who had featured in Fulham’s 5-0 win over Norwich on the opening day, fired home from just inside the penalty area after coming on as half-time substitute.
Hughton’s men were not to be denied a point, however, and Snodgrass found a way past Friedel in the 85th minute with a neat finish after Martin and Grant Holt had helped on a cross from Pilkington.
There was further drama in the last minute when Spurs substitute Tom Huddlestone was sent off for a wild challenge by Jonny Howson.
It was a happy return to Spurs for City boss Chris Hughton, who spent so much of his career there, and a draw was just reward for an excellent display by his side.
After the Capital One Cup victory over Scunthorpe, it was all change as Hughton reverted to the same eleven on duty in the 1-1 Premier League draw against Queens Park Rangers.
There were changes on the bench, however, with new signing Alexander Tettey, the Norway international midfielder, included for the first time since his move from Rennes as one of the seven substitutes.
Defender Michael Turner was also back in the 18 as Ryan Bennett and Chris Martin dropped out from those on duty against Rangers.
Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas, still looking for the first Premier League won of his reign, included new £15m midfield signing Dembele among the substitutes but most of his expensive deadline-beating captures came too late on Friday to feature against the Canaries.
Full-back Kyle Naughton, who spent last season on loan at Carrow Road, was on the bench for Tottenham.
Spurs threatened first in the third minute when Lennon’s pass set up Sigurdsson for a long-range effort that flew just wide.
But it was the Canaries who almost moved ahead in the eighth minute. Snodgrass, fouled by Assou-Ekotto, floated the free-kick in and Russell Martin’s powerful header rattled the crossbar.
The home side broke down the right through Sigurdsson, who eluded Garrido and crossed towards the six-yard box, and it took an acrobatic clearance from Barnett to eliminate the danger.
With 17 minutes gone, a fine ball from Russell Martin sent Jackson racing away on the Norwich right but he shot across goal when a pass to Holt might have been the better option.
Defoe shot wide from outside the area in another Tottenham raid but Martin’s effort was the best by either side in the opening quarter.
Johnson produced another fine effort on 25 minutes with a left-foot shot that fizzed just over the bar from more than 20 yards after Vertonghen had headed clear from Howson’s cross.
On the half-hour, Bale delivered Spurs’ best attempt yet with a powerful 20-yard drive that Ruddy parried into the air, and as the hosts maintained the pressure, Sandro brought the ’keeper into action again but this time Ruddy held on to his low shot from the edge of the area.
Sandro fired wildly into the crowd and Defoe volleyed over the bar as Tottenham looked in vain for the opening goal.
Three minutes before the break, City again came close to taking the lead when Pilkington’s superb cross from the left was met with a diving header from Snodgrass that goalkeeper Friedel clawed away one-handed, with Jackson just unable to get to the rebound before it was cleared.
Moments later, Jackson went down under challenge from Gallas as he chased Howson’s pass, but referee Halsey was unimpressed.
The home side were booed off after a first half in which City produced the better chances.
• Half-time: Tottenham Hotspur 0, Norwich City 0
There was a change at the interval for Spurs as Sandro made way for new signing Dembele.
A volley from Sigurdsson in the opening minute of the half brought Ruddy into action after full-backs Walker and Assou-Ekotto combined on the left.
City won a free-kick on the edge of the Tottenham area when Jackson was upended by Gallas, but Snodgrass curled it wide, left-footed.
Holt headed over from a Snodgrass cross as Norwich threatened again, continuing to pose problems for the home defence.
Bale was not too far away with another long-range shot as, on the touchline, Adebayor began to prepare for action. Sure enough, the striker replaced Sigurdsson 12 minutes into the half.
Spurs won a free-kick on the edge of the Norwich area as Bassong was adjudged to have fouled Defoe. After a long delay, Defoe’s free-kick flew off the wall and out for a corner.
Friedel rescued Tottenham again when he saved Pilkington’s low shot from a tight angle after Russell Martin and Snodgrass worked the ball well by the right corner flag.
But it was Spurs who finally took the lead on 69 minutes when Dembele marked his debut with a goal.
The move started when Howson was caught in possession by Dembele and when the ball came back to him, a yard inside the Norwich penalty area, he struck a left-foot shot all along the ground through a clutch of players and inside the post, beyond the unsighted Ruddy.
Hughton made his first change by replacing Jackson with Morison as the Canaries tried to get back on terms.
Spurs looked more at ease and Bale tried his luck again but a ricochet off Garrido took the sting out of his shot and Ruddy saved.
Villas-Boas made his final change with eight minutes left when Defoe made way for Huddlestone.
With five minutes left, however, Snodgrass brought the Canaries back on terms, to the delight of the travelling fans.
Pilkington’s cross from the right appeared to be overhit, but Russell Martin did brilliantly to head it back, Holt helped it on and Snodgrass tucked a left-foot shot out of reach of Friedel.
Two minutes later, Bale was booked for dissent after disputing the award of a goal-kick to Norwich.
There was further drama in the final minute as Huddlestone produced an ugly challenge on Howson and was shown a straight red card.
In the last minute of stoppage time, City were denied a dramatic winner when Johnson’s piledriver was kept out by Friedel.
• Tottenham Hotspur: Friedel; Walker, Gallas, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto; Livermore, Sandro (Dembele, 45); Lennon, Sigurdsson (Adebayor, 57), Bale; Defoe (Huddlestone, 82). Subs (not used): Cudicini, Naughton, Caulker, Townsend.
• Norwich City: Ruddy; Russell Martin, Barnett, Bassong, Garrido; Snodgrass, Howson, Johnson, Pilkington; Jackson (Morison, 73), Holt. Subs (not used): Rudd, Tierney, Turner, Tettey, Surman, Hoolahan.
• Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).
• Attendance: 36,142.
• Goals: Spurs: Dembele (69). City: Snodgrass (85)
• Red card: Spurs; Huddlestone (89)
• Booking: Spurs: Bale (87)
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33 comments
I`ve never managed a quadruplicate until now! What`s with all this error 503\blank screen business??
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Mad Brewer
Monday, September 3, 2012
So glad we played two up front. Moro looked well motivated when he came on, too. Another poor (home, `big team`) refereeing performance - that attempt to undress Morison was far, far more blatant than the pen Holty conceded v (Swansea??) last season for a `similar` offence. Tettey`s going to find it hard to displace Johnson on that performance. Those 4 guys from the White Rose County were all top-notch. All our players were in that game. Pity Pitbull missed that penalty @ 1p5wich........
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Mad Brewer
Monday, September 3, 2012
So glad we played two up front. Moro looked well motivated when he came on, too. Another poor (home, `big team`) refereeing performance - that attempt to undress Morison was far, far more blatant than the pen Holty conceded v (Swansea??) last season for a `similar` offence. Tettey`s going to find it hard to displace Johnson on that performance. Those 4 guys from the White Rose County were all top-notch. All our players were in that game. Pity Pitbull missed that penalty @ 1p5wich........
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Mad Brewer
Monday, September 3, 2012
So glad we played two up front. Moro looked well motivated when he came on, too. Another poor (home, `big team`) refereeing performance - that attempt to undress Morison was far, far more blatant than the pen Holty conceded v (Swansea??) last season for a `similar` offence. Tettey`s going to find it hard to displace Johnson on that performance. Those 4 guys from the White Rose County were all top-notch. All our players were in that game. Pity Pitbull missed that penalty @ 1p5wich........
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Mad Brewer
Monday, September 3, 2012
So glad we played two up front. Moro looked well motivated when he came on, too. Another poor (home, `big team`) refereeing performance - that attempt to undress Morison was far, far more blatant than the pen Holty conceded v (Swansea??) last season for a `similar` offence. Tettey`s going to find it hard to displace Johnson on that performance. Those 4 guys from the White Rose County were all top-notch. All our players were in that game. Pity Pitbull missed that penalty @ 1p5wich........
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Mad Brewer
Monday, September 3, 2012
The whole team played well, but thought Pilks, Snods and Garrido deserve special mention. So too Morison, who did well when he came on and looked 'up for it' for a change. He won a clear penalty. Great team spirit showed in the goal celebrations too. We must not let Morison go to Blackburn on loan as is being touted in one of the Sunday papers. He still has a role to play.
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canarydownunder
Monday, September 3, 2012
A very encouraging performance. Snodgrass looks an excellent buy and it's great to see the players still have some fight in them. Bodes well for the future. I don't want to sound negative, but I can't help feeling the last two games have been 4 points lost. Good time to play both Spurs and QPR and although we possibly deserved 6 points, we only actually got 2. I hope I'm wrong but we may live to regret these two results. Need a win against West Ham, but things are certainly less gloomy than after the Fulham debacle. Still, encouraged by the performances of Bassong, Garrido, Snodgrass and Johnson - OTBC
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stephen davis
Sunday, September 2, 2012
38 points to go! COYY
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MBA Marine
Sunday, September 2, 2012
2mom - Snodgrass and Friedel - very good account of ourselves - but dare i say 4 points dropped in the last 2 games. Am baised but felt we should have won the last 2 games - onwards and upwards looking forward to our first win and clean sheet. OTBC
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JMH
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Garrido was another outstanding performer, I was told when he came to Norwich that he was one of those full backs that could attack but not defend, but he was absolutely brilliant at both so that's a load of rubbish! Be interesting to see if we could make this one permanent, fell down the pecking order at Lazio.
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Billy
Sunday, September 2, 2012
2 games on the trot that City deserved to win but were denied by poor officials. Brad Johnson has really stepped it up from last season and played brilliantly, also a very good team performance all round. No dissapointments from any team member. We still have players to come that we haven't yet seen, i'm very optimistic.
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goldie
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Norwich played a good game, and at least we took a point away at the lane. I thought we were good enough to take all three but it wasn't to be...small club syndrome in the eyes of the ref perhaps. Bradley had a fantastic game for us! He seems fired up this season, I'm really pleased. Howson on the other hand seems quiet.. I thought Morrison was lively, nice touches and causing problems for the spurs defence, good to see!
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Norfolk'n'good
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Good point Swiss about team spirit, I thought that whole element of our spirit and determination was going to fade as the summer went on and particularly our first game. However you're right we seem to have not last it after all!
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Billy
Saturday, September 1, 2012
It's nothing new, bluelight, I've been banging on about it to my Brother and Grandad ever since he joined the club, he covers ground like no tomorrow, wins the ball constantly and has a brilliant passing range, good defensively and going forward. If you had a look at our lineups you'd see that Lambert started him every time against the top 6 teams, because he works tirelessly and breaks up play like no other.
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Billy
Saturday, September 1, 2012
I see the pundits had us down to loose 2-0 or 3-0. The team spirit is building again at Carra Rud.
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Swiss Canary
Saturday, September 1, 2012
R5 commentary was all about spurs, what they were doing right or wrong, what spurs needed to do to get a win - barely mentioned us. I thought it was supposed to be an impartial national broadcaster?
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SussexYellow
Saturday, September 1, 2012
whats happend with bradley johnson this season?i have now watched city play twice this season and he has been simply outstanding.my man of the match again to-day.
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bluelight
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Great game and I thought City did really well. We were unlucky not to win against QPR and we were even more unlucky not to win today. So many great chances and Friedel had to be at his brilliant best today to keep us out. It's good, but, it's only 2 points from 3 games ! We have West Ham next and they spanked Fulham 3-0 today, so we know that they are capable. Now we have a two week break which is crazy at such an early time in the season..... OTBC
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Dubai Canary
Saturday, September 1, 2012
I look forward to watching it tonight. I wonder where we'll be on the MOTD rosta this week ? Then I'm sad enough to watch better viewing on Sky. We may just have the makings of a decent team. It does sound as if Holty needs steering towards the net though. Maybe a bag of hay dangling from the back of the net will sort it out. My only other concern is CH's hair do, he needs to forget those years at Spurs and ditch the black & white theme.
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Bootneck R.M.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
I look forward to watching it tonight. I wonder where we'll be on the MOTD rosta this week ? Then I'm sad enough to watch better viewing on Sky. We may just have the makings of a decent team. It does sound as if Holty needs steering towards the net though. Maybe a bag of hay dangling from the back of the net will sort it out. My only other concern is CH's hair do, he needs to forget those years at Spurs and ditch the black & white theme.
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Bootneck R.M.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
It is all starting to come together, IHWT.
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Swiss Canary
Saturday, September 1, 2012
@wisemanthree - “I think today's match (plus the one against QPR)highlighted the fact that if we had a £10million striker we'd be a top half team” Not sure I agree with that - more if the refs would give us proper treatment. Ged, have you left the away dressing room yet or are you still celebrating with our brilliant team??
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Mr Ed
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Sad as it is that NCFC are invariably the 'other' team in any fixture, it is also nice when we the david's slay a goliath!
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NrflkM
Saturday, September 1, 2012
What is this with repeat posts.
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Dissaster
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Listening to R5, 606, Spurs fans, fink this, fort that (bling rattle). AVB a doughnut, Spurs not putting the farmyard boys to the sword. So, so damned arrogant. Not ONE mention of City.
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Dissaster
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Vaughan scored a late equalising goal for Huds against Ipswich today, I miss you James, come back ='(
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Billy
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Listening to R5, 606, Spurs fans, fink this, fort that (bling rattle). AVB a doughnut, Spurs not putting the farmyard boys to the sword. So, so damned arrogant. Not ONE mention of City.
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Dissaster
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Haha yes Peter, I think Assou-Ekotto must have a thing for Morison, definitely wanted his top off.
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Billy
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Matt Letiessier said it on SKY. norwich were by far the better team, and should have won 5-1 on solid chances. Excellent defence, excellent midfield, desperately needing a striker who convert the brilliant work of the rest of the team................................................................................but I think we who sat up until gone 11 last night knew that:)
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Algarve Canary
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Superb performance.City were denied a definite pen when Morison who looked on fire had his shirt nearly pulled off him in the area,probably denying us the 3 points Chris Hughton's team deserved as well as the 2 fine saves from Friedel from Snodgrass-what a bargain he is-and from the irrepressible Johnson.The team's confidence showed the defeat at Fulham is history.Very encouraging.
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Peter Watson
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Great performance it would appear - listened on the wireless - a real TEAM performance. Spurs had no doubt had the better individuals, but as Alf Ramsey proved, both with England, and with . . . .y'know . . them>>. It is ultimately a team game. Talking of 'them', guess who scored at the Portaloo Arena? Master Vaughan no less. Smugness withheld - it's early days???
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Dissaster
Saturday, September 1, 2012
One thing I wasn't expecting to see us do as well as we did this match was containing their pace and flair, bearing in mind that this is Lennon and Bale we're talking about, not to mention the introduction of Dembele. We looked very organised and weren't afraid to pass the ball, there was no us and them, we looked in every bit a team belonging to the premiership. One player who I thought was absolutely brilliant was Johnson, works so very hard, wins the ball, tracks runs and brilliant distribution, man of the match for me. Pilkington + Snodgrass also very impressive. Thought Morison looked fantastic when he came on too, worked hard and technically very sound.
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Billy
Saturday, September 1, 2012
I have to say I thought we played superbly throughout. If we continue to play like this then I have no real concerns about us staying up. HOWEVER, I think today's match (plus the one against QPR) highlighted the fact that if we had a £10million striker we'd be a top half team... but then again we don't have that money so it's all if's and maybe's...
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wisemanthree
Saturday, September 1, 2012