Adnan Causevic own goal gave
Tottenham Hotspur a hard-earned
victory over Tromso on Thursday
evening.
Andre Villas-Boas' side headed into the
game knowing a win would seal top
spot in Group K of the Europa League
but initially struggled to find any real
cutting edge.
With their 6-0 thrashing at the hands of
Manchester City at the weekend still
fresh in their minds, the Lilywhites
appeared nervous going forward but
found their feet in the second half and
eventually ran out deserved winners.
The victory will ease the pressure on
Villas-Boas, and is also likely to give the
side a healthy boost ahead of their
heavyweight clash with Manchester
United on Sunday.
Perhaps because of the snowy
conditions and the artificial pitch, Spurs
began slowly and almost fell behind in
the second minute. Zdenek Ondrasek
raced onto a fine through ball and beat
Michael Dawson for pace before firing
at goal, though his effort flew into the
side netting.
Tromso failed to build on their
promising start, however, and Gylfi
Sigurdsson went close in the 16th
minute. The Iceland star collected the
ball in midfield following a neat passage
of play but could only blast his shot
over the bar.
The 24-year-old was undeterred and
again threatened two minutes later.
The midfielder once more found a
pocket of space and unleashed a low
drive from the edge of the box, though
his effort kissed the post on its way
wide.
Spurs' maintained their pressure and
Andros Townsend was the next to go
close, as he saw his long-range drive
well saved by Tromso stopper Benny
Lekstrom.
Sigurdsson continued to threaten and
set Nacer Chadli through on goal in the
38th minute. The Belgian raced onto
the pass and looked set to fire home,
but he mishit his resulting effort and
the ball flew high and wide.
Tromso then shut up shop before half-
time but were undone in the 54th
minute, as Roberto Soldado controlled
a long ball forward and squared for
Sigurdsson to score. However, the
north Londoners saw the goal ruled
out, with Soldado penalised for
handball.
Their narrow escape seemed to inspire
the home side and Thomas Bendiksen
went close just two minutes later. The
midfielder blasted a 25-yard free-kick at
goal and forced a good save from Brad
Friedel, following a foul by Etienne
Capoue on the edge of the box.
Soldado then conceded another set-
piece and Tromso once more forced
Friedel into action, with the American
this time denying Jaroslaw Fojut from
close-range.
Spurs soon took advantage of their
goalkeeper's heroics, as they took the
lead on the hour mark.
Sigurdsson drilled a free-kick into the area from the
right flank for Vlad Chiriches, who
bundled the ball home via a deflection
off Adnan Causevic.
The away side then clicked through the
gears and Mousa Dembele doubled
their advantage in the 75th minute.
Sigurdsson was again involved, as he
collected a clever pass from Lewis
Holtby and found the Belgian, who
stroked home from just inside the box.
Dembele then had a superb chance to
double his tally just 60 seconds later,
when he was played through one-on-
one by Soldado, but his resulting effort
cannoned back off the post and he
could only send the rebound wide –
though it mattered little in the end.
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