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Gyan salvages point for Sunderland at Tottenham
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By Rob Harris, AP
November 10, 2010
LONDON, England — Asamoah Gyan came to Sunderland’s rescue at Tottenham on Tuesday, with the club’s record-signing scoring his third goal in two matches to clinch a 1-1 draw in the Premier League.
Gyan’s 67th-minute equalizer came after a mix-up in the Spurs defense between William Gallas and Younes Kaboul allowing Danny Welbeck’s pass through.
Sunderland manager Steve Bruce believes the Ghana international, who joined from French club Rennes in August for more than 13 million pounds (then $20 million), is ready to start scoring even more regularly after recovering from the World Cup.
“Physically when he came to us he was nowhere near in condition,” Sunderland manager Steve Bruce said. “Thankfully in the last five or six weeks we’ve be able to put a bit of work into him.”
Rafael van der Vaart had put Spurs ahead three minutes before Gyan struck, maintaining his record of scoring in all six home matches since being signed from Real Madrid in August.
Spurs striker Peter Crouch headed on Gareth Bale’s cross at the far post beyond goalkeeper Craig Gordon and Van der Vaart brought the ball down with his chest before spinning and sending it in the net.
But despite dominating possession and shots on target, Tottenham has gone four straight league matches without a win.
“Once we scored, I couldn’t see us not winning—they’d not really had a shot,” Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said. “We suddenly get the mix-up and it all changes.”
Spurs, who beat European champion Inter Milan here a week ago, made an assertive start to their quest to replicate that League form domestically.
But they were restricted to shots from distance in the opening stages. The first came after two minutes, with Luka Modric forcing Gordon into a low diving save on the goalkeeper’s first appearance of the season after recovering from a broken arm.
With Aaron Lennon out, David Bentley was selected on the other flank to make his first league start since May. And he unleashed a powerful shot just before half time after cutting in from the right, but it was tipped over by Gordon.
“We made hard work of it in the first half,” Bruce said. “The one thing we tried to do in the first half was stop their midfield dominance.”
But Spurs saw just why Sunderland had not conceded in four of its previous five matches before Tuesday, with the one blip a 5-1 loss at Newcastle.
Bentley had a penalty claim dismissed at the start of the second half after being adjudged to have dived by referee Howard Webb under Bolo Zenden’s challenge.
“It was a penalty, a blatantly penalty, wasn’t it? I just watched the replay of it,” Redknapp said. “How he can book him? It was a penalty.”
Redknapp was equally aggrieved that Lee Cattermole was only booked for a high sliding tackle on Modric’s knee just after Gyan’s equalizer. Cattermole has already been sent off twice this season.
The Tottenham manager also criticized the Spurs fans who booed at the final whistle just a week after cheering the team after the 3-1 win over Inter.
“What have they got to moan about?” asked Redknapp. “We couldn’t have done any more tonight.”
• Soccer, World Cup News Archive Index
2010, 2009
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