From: bruce@tcom.stc.co.uk (Bruce Munro)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
Subject: Spurs News + Spurs v Sheffield Utd Report
Date: 3 Sep 92 17:20:34 GMT
Organization: BNR Europe, New Southgate, London.

Some good news for Spurs fans at last, with our first Premier League
victory being notched up last night. It was such a relief that even
now at 5 o'clock I'm still suffering from the after-effects of the
celebrations which involved numerous pints of Red Stripe followed by
yet another viewing of THE semi-final video also accompanied by large
quantities of beer!

Other good news is that Spurs completed the signing of Teddy Sheringham
from Nottingham Forest last Friday. He played in the game against Ipswich
Town on Sunday and against Sheff Utd last night, and looks like he'll
be a valuable addition to the side. The fee was 2.1 million pounds.

On Sunday Spurs were away at Ipswich and earned a 1-1 draw with an
amazing freak goal scored by defender Jason Cundy. Following an Ipswich
throw-in the ball fell to Cundy just inside the Ipswich half. He punted
the ball forward and it was caught by the strong breeze and carried over
the stranded Ipswich keeper into the left hand top corner of the net.
Ipswich equalized just before half-time through John Wark, and for most
of the game were apparently the stronger side. Spurs defended well though
and came away with a point.

Wednesday Sept 3rd
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 - 0 SHEFFIELD UNITED
 Sheringham 43
 Durie 46

Tottenham: Walker, Austin, Van den Hauwe, Sedgley, Cundy, Ruddock,
Anderton (Turner, 80), Durie, Samways (Gray, 80), Sheringham, Allen.
Sub not used: Thorstvedt.
Sheff Utd: Tracey, Gage, Cowan, Gannon, Gayle, Beesley, Bryson (Cork, 63),
Rogers, Littlejohn, Deane, Hodges (Kelly, 83).

Plenty of incident in this game, two Spurs goals, Simon Tracey sent off,
the referee flaking out midway through the second half. Before the match
we were pretty concerned about this game, Sheff Utd are a tough side and
beat Spurs twice last season, although their start to the season hasn't
been too impressive apart from the stuffing of Man Utd. As it turned out
it was a pretty good performance by Spurs with, hopefully, good signs
for the future. The addition of Sheringham to the Spurs attack seems to
have added a an extra dimension and Spurs created more chances last night
than in the other five games this season.

It was United that had the first real scoring chance when Sheringham
played Bryan Deane onside following a corner giving the Deane a free
header that brought a good save from Ian Walker. For the rest of the
half though it was Spurs doing most of the attacking and creating several
chances for Sheringham who headed just over the bar and shooting just wide
of the post. In the meantime Neil Ruddock got himself booked again after
kicking the ball away when United were awarded a free-kick. Two minutes
before the interval Sheringham made his home debut one to remember when
he jabbed in Steve Sedgley's low cross from the left at the near post.

The second half started as the first finished with a spectacular goal
from Durie. A clearance by Jason Cundy was chased by Durie and two
United defenders, one of whom headed the ball back towards his keeper, but
miscued toward the corner flag. Durie determined as ever got to the ball first
and seeing Tracey at the edge of his area curled a beautiful shot round
the stranded keeper into the vacant net. This prompted a period of pressure
from United, but the Spurs defence were pretty sound and there was only
one good chance when Bryan Deane again beat the offside trap only to shoot
wide with only Walker to beat. In the last half hour the match was getting
a bit ragged with Spurs seeming content with the two goal lead (something
that's proved disastrous many a time at White Hart Lane!). About halfway
through the second half the entertainment picked up again, but not through
good football. The referee, Ian Mitchell, who was a replacement for another
referee who'd got a dose of the flu, succumbed to the effects of flu
himself, and had to be carried from the pitch. Ten minutes later Simon
Tracey, the United keeper came unstuck when the ball was passed back to him
on the edge of his area. Unable to handle it under the new rules he was
slow to get it away and Paul Allen nipped in to try and disposess him.
Tracey managed to keep the ball and took it out of his area then kicked it
in to touch. Andy Gray seeing that Tracey was stranded moved in to take the
throw quickly, and Tracey instead of heading back to his goal went to try
and get the ball himself in order to delay things. Unfortunately for him
the ball-boy got there first and gave the ball to Gray, and as he was taking
the throw Tracey dragged him down from behind. Having been booked early in
first-half for handling outside his area he received his second yellow
card and was sent off.

This was a great improvement by the Spurs side that had looked alarmingly
weak in the earlier games. However, Sheffield United didn't play well, and
there's going to be much stiffer challenges including Everton who we
play at White Hart Lane this Saturday. This fixture has ended up 3-3 for
the past two seasons, with Spurs throwing away a 3-0 lead last year, so
it should at least be entertaining.

Other news is that Spurs have drawn Brentford for the second leg of the
Coca-Cola Cup. First leg is at home on Sept 23rd, with the away leg two
weeks later on Oct 6th or 7th.

-- 
Bruce Munro.  <bruce@tcom.stc.co.uk> || ...!mcsun!uknet!stc!bruce
BNR Europe Ltd, Oakleigh Rd South, London N11 1HB. 
Phone : +44 81 945 2174 or +44 81 945 4000 x2174
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