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Premier League

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3

• Doyle 20,
• Doyle (pen) 40,
• Fletcher 87

Tottenham Hotspur 3

• Defoe 30,
• Defoe 35,
• Pavlyuchenko 48

• Jacob Steinberg
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 March 2011 15.15 GMT <li class="history">Article history
  
  Alan Hutton pulls back Nenad Milijas but only gets booked. Photograph: Scott Heavey/Getty Images Good afternoon. Tottenham might be fifth and in the Champions League, but they've still had their say in the relegation battle. Their last game saw them lose 3-1 to Blackpool, presumably to the considerable annoyance of all the other strugglers. Beat Milan, lose to Blackpool. Such are the ups and downs of a Harry Redknapp side. Only one thing, however, is stopping them from earning the mantle as the most inconsistent side in the country: Wolves. Now this lot are baffling. They've beaten Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, and have lost to, among others, Wigan, West Ham and Blackpool. They are arguably the only side in the country who feel more comfortable facing one of the top teams than a rival, to the extent that their victory over Blackpool last week was more of an upset than when they ended United's unbeaten record. Another 'shock' is on the cards today. With Tottenham carrying their fair share of injuries and surely keeping one eye on Wednesday's game against Milan, this could be the perfect time for Wolves to play them. It's that sort of good fortune that keeps a side up. Managers sometimes write off these games, looking to games against fellow strugglers for points, but Wolves don't have that luxury today. Although Blackburn, Birmingham and Wigan all lost yesterday, West Brom and West Ham won, leaving Wolves in the bottom three.
  Team news: Wolves are without Jamie O'Hara due to the terms of his loan, so Nenad Milijas comes in, with Kevin Doyle on his own up front. Dave Edwards is injured and is replaced by Stephen Ward. Despite scoring twice against Blackpool, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is only on the bench. To be fair, even Dirk Kuyt could score against Blackpool these days. What? Oh. As for Tottenham, they line up in an ENGLISH 4-4-2. The good news for them is that Gareth Bale is back and on the bench. The bad news is that Rafael Van der Vaart is injured, so Harry Redknapp starts with his BFF Roman Pavlyuchenko alongside the Amazing Non-Scoring Jermain Defoe. The clearest sign that Redknapp considers this game less important than Milan is that Aaron Lennon is on the bench. We wouldn't have been saying that a few months ago.
  Wolves (4-5-1): Hennessey; Foley, Stearman, Berra, Elokobi;
  Hammill, Henry, Ward, Milijas, Jarvis; Doyle. Subs: Hahnemann, Craddock, Ebanks-Blake, Fletcher, Mouyokolo, Griffiths, Doherty.
  Tottenham (4-4-2): Gomes; Hutton, Dawson, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Pienaar, Jenas, Sandro, Modric; Defoe, Pavlyuchenko. Subs: Cudicini, Bale, Lennon, Palacios, Crouch, Bassong, Kranjcar.
  Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
  Pre-match plugging dep't: Floating brain in a jar Jonathan Wilson (yes, that one) has started a new football magazine. You really should buy it. It's magnificent. (I might be biased here. But it is.)
  The managers have just been interviewed on Sky. "Have you seen their bench today?" says Mick McCarthy. Just to make it clear, he has seen Tottenham's bench. It was rhetorical. Harry Redknapp hopes Tottenham are focused on this game, which is interesting.
  Dean Richards, of course, played for both of these sides. There will be a tribute to him before the match, and Sky have just had a lovely piece on him, interviewing former team-mates and managers. You should also read this fine piece by Rob Bagchi.
  The teams emerge from the tunnel. Wolves are in their gold strip, while Tottenham are in white.
  "Deano! Deano!" rings out around the ground. Ledley King (representing Tottenham), Claus Lundekvam (representing Southampton) and Matt Murray (representing Wolves) bring three shirts with Richards' name on to the pitch, before his family come on to. They're followed by Dave Jones, James Beattie and Don Goodman. There's a poignant silence as the PA reads out Richards' playing achievements, before a minute's applause from the crowd. "Deano! There's only one Deano!"
  1 min: And we're off, Wolves getting us under way and kicking from left to right. There's a slightly subdued atmosphere understandably. Tottenham attack straight away, but neither Pavlyuchenko are able to make anything out of a very decent cross from Hutton from the right. Tottenham stay on the front foot though, and Modric glides in from the left before slipping a lovely pass across the area to Pavlyuchenko. He's got a clear sight of goal 15 yards out, but instead of striking it hard, he opens up his body and looks to place a shot into the corner. In the end, he makes a complete mess of it, partly due to the presence of Berra putting him off, and the ball slithers apologetically wide.
  3 min: It's very quiet in Molineux, save for the chants of the Tottenham fans. Wolves have started nervously; the wins for West Ham and West Brom yesterday have really put pressure on them.
  4 min: As I've discussed below, the problem for Wolves this season has been when expectations are high. Bizarrely this is one of those games, and may play into Tottenham's hands.
  5 min: This is better, a thrusting run from the lone striker, Doyle, as he holds off challenges on the left, before winning a corner off Hutton. Hammill takes the corner and Gomes charges through the bodies to punch the ball clear. He doesn't get it too far though, and is relieved that Milijas was unable to control his right-footed volley from inside the D, the ball shanked high and wide.
  6 min: How's this for symmetry? Tottenham have scored 19 goals at home, 19 goals away and 19 goals in the main stages of the Champions League. They probably won't mind if some of that symmetry is lost today though...
  8 min: It's been a quiet start. Assou-Ekotto pumps the ball down the line, looking for Defoe. Goal-kick to Wolves.
  9 min: An aimless ball forward suddenly has Defoe interested, and Hennessy races off his line, just reaching the pass before the Tottenham striker, sliding in and getting it away. Defoe was inches away from getting that. One touch and he would have had an open goal, albeit with his left foot and 30 yards out. So maybe not a proper open goal. A half chance.
  11 min: The first glimpse of the dangerous Jarvis, who spins beautifully away from Hutton on the left and whips in a lovely cross that Gomes catches before any Wolves player can get his head on it. "The Wolves pitch looks awful," says Arsene Wenger Chris Bond. "Can all MBMers also watching this match sing 'Are you Wigan's playing service in disguise?' at the TV please? Ta."
  13 min: Tottenham definitely have at least one eye on Wednesday night. They don't look particularly bothered about this match so far. They've been away in Dubai for the last fortnight. Maybe they've got the holiday blues.
  14 min: I wonder how Alan Hutton enjoyed Dubai.
  16 min: Foley comes in off the right flank, and spots Milijas making a clever run behind the Tottenham defence. Foley has the right idea and plays a pass through to Milijas, but Gallas anticipates it well, gets his body in between the man and the ball and ushers it back to Gomes. Excellent defending from Gallas. But this isn't, as this time he lets Milijas get the better of him, the midfielder peeling off him from Hammill's cross from the right. Eight yards from goal, Milijas can only loop a header over the bar - in fairness to him, the cross was a bit too high for him.
  18 min: More pressure from Wolves, as Milijas swings in a corner from the right. It's not very good though and is cleared at the near post.
  19 min: Tottenham's respite was only momentary. On the right flank, Defoe conceded a needless free-kick, allowing Wolves to keep up their pressure. Milijas swung the free-kick and once again it led to a corner. Jarvis took it from the right, but Gomes punched clear under severe pressure.
  GOAL! Wolves 1-0 Tottenham (Doyle, 20 min): Tottenham have been asking for this and the defending here is absolutely dreadful. Wolves had been banging on the door, forcing a succession of corners and free-kicks and their pressure has paid off. They won another corner, as Jarvis raced on to a lovely pass down the inside-right channel and into the area. He hit his shot first time but a Spurs defender managed to deflect it into the side netting. Milijas took the corner from the right again, and although it was headed clear, Henry showed great awareness to spread the play back out to Milijas. He wasn't closed down quickly enough, so he cut back on to his left foot, curled the ball into the six-yard box and Doyle, with no Tottenham defender anywhere near him, flicked the ball past Gomes, who was all over the place, and into the empty net.
  22 min: Nearly an instant reply from Tottenham! Pienaar finds space on the edge of Wolves' area, skips past Jarvis and then fires a low shot past Hennessy's near post and into the side netting. A warning for Wolves, who went to sleep there.
  25 min: Wolves are giving Tottenham no time at all on the ball and so far, their pressing has worked. That said, Tottenham's response since the goal has been excellent. Pienaar's off-the-ball run from the left - rather like Freddie Ljungberg at Arsenal - goes unchecked, and Modric spots his team-mate. Pienaar then produces a glorious pirouette to throw his marker off-balance, but as he shoots, Stearman manages to recover and get the block in. The ball deflects back to the edge of the area, where Modric runs on to it ominously ... and skews his shot around six yards wide of the left post. But Wolves have reason to be worried.
  28 min: It's been all Tottenham since the goal.
  29 min: Oh, what a waste. Jenas picks up possession in the centre circle and then goes on a lovely surging run into the heart of Wolves' territory. He easily outstrips the wheezing Henry, but instead of passing to the unmarked Defoe, he decides to shoot and, well, it was rubbish.
  GOAL! Wolves 1-1 Tottenham (Defoe, 30 min): What a way to score your first league goal of the season! Tottenham have monopolised possession since going behind, so this isn't that big a surprise. It looked they were going nowhere in this move, Pavlyuchenko getting bogged down just outside Wolves' box, with a clutch of defenders surrounding him. He did really well to shift the ball to Defoe though, not that there was much danger for Wolves. Or so it seemed. Defoe had nothing on, so just darted to the right and then bent an absolutely superb shot past Hennessy and high into the top right corner. That is unstoppable. Where's he been all season then?
  33 min: That goal was greeted with cheers in Birmingham, Wigan and east London too.
  GOAL! Wolves 1-2 Tottenham (Defoe, 35 min): This is extraordinary! Defoe has done it again. His first goal was brilliant, but this one's even better. It all stemmed from a Wolves attack which Tottenham broke up on the edge of their own area. A few touches later and in a flash they were breaking forward at speed, Defoe running down the left flank at the backtracking Wolves defence, which is suddenly terrified of the striker. He darted inside and then laid the ball off to Modric on the edge of the area. Again it looked like the move was about to peter out when a Wolves midfielder got a foot in to rob Modric, but unfortunately for the home side, the ball ran straight back to Defoe who hit a marvellous first-time curler with his right foot past Hennessy and into the same spot where he put his first goal. The amount of curl he got on that was incredible.
  39 min: PENALTY TO WOLVES! Doyle's deflected shot from 25 yards out spins through into the area and Milijas is hauled down by Hutton six yards from goal! Hutton could be off.
  GOAL! Wolves 2-2 Tottenham (Doyle pen, 40 min): Two for Doyle, two for Defoe. There was outrage from the home crowd before the penalty was taken as Halsey somehow decided only to book Hutton, an absolutely scandalous decision. Hutton clearly denied a goalscoring opportunity, bringing down Milijas who was only six yards out and poised to equalise. How on earth has Halsey not sent Hutton off? Anyway, no matter, because Wolves are level. Gomes goes to his left, so Doyle simply rolls the ball casually to his right. A superbly cool penalty and it's all square again.
  43 min: Modric curls a free-kick in from the left but it's under-hit and put on to the head of the first man.
  44 min: Despite Halsey awarding the penalty, the home crowd are still annoyed he didn't send off Hutton, who is being booed whenever he touches the ball. Does anyone understand the rules of football any more? Back to the action, Tottenham zip forward again. Pienaar leaves a pass from Pavlyuchenko for Defoe, who's on his hat-trick. On the right side of the area, Defoe works the ball on to his deadly right foot, but Elokobi does excellently to deflect his effort behind.
  45 min: Dawson gets his head on Modric's corner but can only direct a weak header straight at Hennessy.
  45 min+1: There will be two more minutes of this. Hammill's cross loops up to the edge of the area, and Henry heads it down for Milijas who turns and slices a volley miles over the top. I can't be sure, but I don't think he meant to do that.
  Peep! Peep! Wolves have been much the better side, but two moments of genius have undone them. Boos ring out as the teams go down the tunnel, Wolves fans still annoyed that Hutton wasn't sent off. Someone needs to explain that decision to me.
  Half time: Wolves 2-2 Tottenham.
  Half-time emails:
  "'Hutton clearly denied a goalscoring opportunity' Eh?" says Colin Leeds. "He shot, therefore not a sending off offence. It isn't difficult." I think you're the one who's finding it difficult - it doesn't matter if Milijas got the shot away. Using your logic, he shouldn't have given a penalty. By fouling him, Hutton made it difficult for Milijas to score and he didn't score. He was six yards out and he pulled him back, trying to stop him from shooting. A clear red card.
  "If there was an referee ombudsman, they would be quite busy after this weekend, given some of the decisions," says Jamie Ayres. "Arshavin's disallowed goal and blatant penalty not being given in the Arsenal vs Sunderland, Carragher staying on the pitch in the Man U vs Liverpool game and now Tottenham's Hutton staying on the pitch have my eyebrows raised to Roger Moore heights." If you lower your expectations of all referees, you won't end up disappointed when they blunder.
  On Defoe's first goal, Ray Wilkins makes an interesting point, saying that Hennessy was too far off his line. That's a fair point, as the first goal wasn't right in the corner, although I don't agree that he should have saved the immense second goal.
  46 min: Here we go again, Tottenham taking their third kick-off of the day. In the Sky studio, Souness and Wilkins were cooking over the decision not to send off Hutton. It's excellent when Souness gets angry. Anything could happen! Gattuso's headbutt on Joe Jordan was the best thing he'd seen since this. The commentary is brilliant in that clip: "That is a booking!" Imagine the reaction now.
  GOAL! Wolves 2-3 Tottenham (Pavlyuchenko, 48 min): For the third time today, what a finish, but that decision not to send off Hutton is looking more and more pivotal. Jenas was allowed too much room to burst through the non-existent Wolves midfield, before flicking a pass to Pavlyuchenko. He had his back to goal on the edge of the area, but shook off his marker with a canny turn into the area, before absolutely lashing the ball past Hennessy with his left boot from 16 yards out. He got a bit lucky as it took a nick off Ward, but take nothing away from the finish. This is a great game.
  50 min: And Wolves nearly equalise again! Jarvis checks on to his right foot on the left and whips a teasing cross into the six-yard box. Ward races on to it and gets in front of Gallas, but can only glance a skimming header wide of the left post.
  52 min: Mick McCarthy's comments are going to be interesting if it stays like this. Expect some gruff, no-nonsense Yorkshire musings.
  53 min: "A few weeks back, Redknapp said that a penalty and yellow card in that situation is punishment enough," says Phill Wainwright. "What do you think? I know some will say that a pen could be missed, but I'd be inclined to agree." Well I wrote this last year, which should make it clear. In this case, I'd say Hutton should have walked as his foul was cynical in the extreme.
  54 min: Dawson barges into Hammill off the ball on the right, and when the advantage disappears, Halsey brings play back. Dawson is quite rightly booked. More cynicism, although hardly the worst foul you'll ever see, right Jamie?
  55 min: Milijas's free-kick is dire but Tottenham's attempt to clear it is even worse, Sandro and Jenas contriving to mess up the situation between them, the ball bobbling off Sandro's shoulder in comical fashion. It breaks to Hammill on the right of the area, but just as he seemed poised to shoot, the ball sat up awkwardly for him, forcing him to loop a cross into the six-yard box instead. Tottenham get it clear, but only momentarily. Henry sends in another dangerous cross, but Gomes does excellently to come off his line and catch it.
  58 min: "Any true Wolves supporter should be well pleased that Hutton is still on the pitch," says Ian Markey. "It almost guarantees another few easy opportunities to equalise/win..."
  58 min: This is far from over. Redknapp is fuming on the touchline, steam coming out of his ears, as Gallas goes on a foray into Wolves' half. And loses the ball to Doyle. Doyle immediately sprays the ball out to Jarvis on the left, and he goes racing up the left flank ominously, only to ruin it all by cutting inside on to his right foot and curling the ball high and wide from the edge of the area. He's no Defoe.
  59 min: Everyone wants to be Defoe today: Pavlyuchenko goes for the curler, but fares no better than Jarvis.
  60 min: Gallas hands Wolves another free-kick 30 yards from goal with a pointless foul on Doyle. Before it's taken though, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake comes on for Stephen Ward, Wolves changing to a 4-4-2 presumably.
  61 min: Hammill stands over the free-kick, but it's the left-footer, Milijas, who takes it and bends his shot a few yards wide of the left post.
  64 min: Excellent defending from Sandro, who dives full-length to head Foley's dangerous cross over the bar, with Doyle lurking behind him. He goes down, apparently injured, but just seems to be suffering from cramp. Milijas takes the corner again but a lot of his set-pieces have been really poor, hit straight to the first man, and this is no exception.
  65 min: What a save from Gomes to preserve Tottenham's lead! Milijas found a bit of space in midfield and took the opportunity to amble forward, with Tottenham backing off. No Tottenham defender bothered to close him down - Sandro trying to belatedly - and Milijas cracks a fine low effort towards the bottom right corner, only for Gomes to dive and get the most vital of fingertips on the shot, diverting it on to the post and out for a corner. Which Wolves mess up totally. They tried to take it short and gave it away instantly.
  66 min: For a moment it looks like Defoe's about to get his hat-trick as he races clear of the Wolves defence, but again Hennessy gets to the loose ball before him to smother the danger.
  69 min: Here's trouble. Tottenham make their first change, Gareth Bale on for Steven Pienaar. Now Wolves really have something to be worried about on the break.
  70 min: Here's Bale! Immediately he speeds down the right flank and tries to play a one-two with Modric, only for the flag to go up as Bale drifts offside. "Alan Hutton's comedy performances - it shows what a bad move it was to loan out Kyle Walker to Villa," says Mark Cruise. "Doesn't it?" Perhaps, although remember that Hutton is only playing because Vedran Corluka is injured.
  71 min: "I don't necessarily disagree with Phill Wainwright's point of view, but it's not the referee's job to apply a value judgement on what would be a 'fair' outcome," says Thomas Hopkins. "His job is to apply the rules which, rightly or wrongly, say that denying a goalscoring opportunity in the area results in both a penalty and a red card. I can understand why he might not want to send someone off in those circumstances, but I can't understand why he didn't do it." I agree, although I don't necessarily agree with the rule.
  72 min: Bale has given Tottenham a new lease of life. It's like a new signing! He's playing on the right at the moment and has just torn Elokobi a new one, getting to the byline with consummate ease. He cuts the ball back into the six-yard box, leading to an almighty scramble. Wolves get it half-clear, the ball breaking loose to Modric, who can't quite get the shot away. He cuts it back to Defoe, who surprisingly decides to pass to a Wolves defender.
  73 min: Dear me. A terrible miss. Milijas finds Jarvis on the overlap on the left, and the winger slides the ball into the area for Ebanks-Blake. Right in front of goal, it looked like had to equalise, but got it all wrong, and ended up shanking the ball comically past the left post with his left foot, which we shall generously refer to as his standing foot from now on.
  74 min: Wolves bring on Stephen Fletcher for Adam Hammill. Tottenham bring on Aaron Lennon for Roman Pavlyuchenko.
  75 min: Tottenham escape again. A cross from the right evades everyone and bounces into the path of Milijas. On the stretch, however, he can only volley over from six yards out - he should have tried to head it.
  77 min: William Gallas, you'll be surprised to hear, has lost his head, as Ebanks-Blake rolls away from him 25 yards out and is immediately hauled back by the Frenchman. He's booked.
  78 min: But, as it must be pointed out, Gallas is a terrific defender and does superbly to prevent a Wolves equaliser from the free-kick. It was straight from the training ground, Milijas pretending to shoot and then slipping the ball to the unmarked Jarvis on the left. Jarvis fizzes the ball into the near post, where Gallas puts it behind.
  80 min: GOAL! OR NOT? NO! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? Mark Halsey is not going to be very popular in Wolves tonight - the home side have had a perfectly good goal disallowed here. Milijas swung a deep free-kick into the six-yard box, and once again Gomes was flapping all over the place as he tried to claim it. He made a complete hash of it as Stearman jumped with him fairly, and the ball squirted loose and squirted off into the box. Wolves celebrate, Tottenham appeal, Halsey gives it. The crowd celebrates, stops celebrating, starts celebrating again, and then reacts with complete disbelief as Halsey disallows it for a foul on Gomes by Stearman!
  82 min: Just before the disallowed goal, Wolves had a penalty appeal waved away as Jarvis's crossed was blocked by Hutton's back and not (NOT) his arm. Tottenham broke up the pitch and Henry made a complete mess of dealing with Bale, who suddenly found himself one-on-one with Hennessy, who just got something on his shot to stop Tottenham from wrapping up the points.
  83 min: So close to the hat-trick for Defoe! Sandro seizes on another error in the Wolves defence and cuts the ball back to the edge of the area for Defoe, whose firmly-struck right-footed shot beats Hennessy but thwacks away off the base of the left post. That was a wonderful shot, but not quite wonderful enough.
  84 min: Tottenham make their final substitution, Niko Kranjcar coming on for Luka Modric.
  86 min: "There are no rules in football, only laws," points out Terry Land. "I am always dubious about any conversation around the same that omits that most basic knowledge."
  GOAL! Wolves 3-3 Tottenham (Fletcher, 87 min): Justice is done! Ebanks-Blake pulls out to the left, and plays the ball down the line for Jarvis, who once again cuts on to his right foot and crosses to the far post where Fletcher hangs in the air and plants a perfectly judged header back across goal, past Gomes and into the far corner! Tottenham's marking was dreadful, Dawson hardly covering himself in glory there. Their defending has been appalling.
  89 min: Tottenham break, Lennon leading the charge up the left. He offloads the ball to Jenas, whose attempted drive from 30 yards out is blocked by Berra.
  90 min: Wolves will still be fuming, mind you, as Andrew Wiese points out here: "I'll wait until Wolves are winning before I claim justice has been done here..." I was just about to write that, but I'll give you the glory. There will be four minutes of stoppage time.
  90 min+2: Bale lines one up on the edge of the area but cracks his shot straight at Hennessy.
  90 min+3: So, one final twist?
  90 min+4: Kranjcar finds Bale in behind Tottenham's defence, but his cross is blocked behind for a corner, which comes to nothing.
  Peep! Peep! Boo! Football? Bloody hell.
  Post-match thoughts: "You're not fit to referee," chant the Wolves fans. That's a shame, really, as usually Mark Halsey is very capable but he's had a nightmare here, failing to send off Alan Hutton and disallowing a perfectly good Wolves goal. Still, what a breathless game that was. Let's focus on the positives, a never-say-die performance from Wolves, a fine header from Stephen Fletcher and two superb goals from Jermain Defoe. The point doesn't do much for Wolves, who remain 19th, but surely they aren't going down. Tottenham go level on points with Chelsea, but with a worse goal difference and having played one game more. They could do with learning how to defend, but ahead of Milan, they didn't pick up any injuries and Gareth Bale returned. Thanks for reading and thanks for emailing. Bye.
  
  

 

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