City out of luck

Bradford City 1

Manager Jim Jefferies promised Bradford City would do their best to spoil Glenn Hoddle's homecoming party, and the players certainly tried their best to make that happen.

The 2-1 defeat may have pushed them nearer relegation to the First Division, but only a biased Tottenham supporter would begrudge City the point their spirited performance richly deserved.

Ultimately, they paid the price for two defensive lapses, but Jefferies was delighted with the performance, if not the result, as City built on encouraging displays in the 2-2 home draws against Manchester City and Newcastle United.

It is no exaggeration to say that City could have had at least seven points, if not a maximum nine, from these three matches instead of having to settle for two.

City have certainly taken on a new lease of life, and a continuation of what has been seen in the last three weeks should at least ensure a positive end to the season.

It also offers hope for the future as Jefferies looks to build on his squad during what should be a busy summer of signings.

Jefferies stuck to the attacking 4-3-3 formation that served City so well against Manchester and Newcastle, and their three-pronged attack featuring Ashley Ward, Benito Carbone and Robbie Blake caused problems to a Spurs defence missing the injured Sol Campbell.

They carved out a number of scoring opportunities and were lively throughout.

The defensive mistakes that led to Spurs' two goals left Jefferies frustrated, however.

They ultimately scuppered City's hopes of gaining any reward for their enterprising away performance.

The match turned Tottenham's way after 25 minutes when City lost possession near the right-hand corner and were punished for it.

Wayne Jacobs played the ball to Eoin Jess, who had it taken from him by Sergei Rebrov.

The pacy £11 million signing from Kiev caused problems the whole match, and he seized his chance.

His whipped cross found Norwegian international Steffen Iversen, who hammered the ball through Gary Walsh's legs.

The winning goal 15 minutes from the end also came from Rebrov. Jacobs had plenty of opportunity to play the ball into touch as he was forced back down the touchline, but he lost possession to the striker and his cross rebounded to Simon Davies, who put Totten-ham ahead.

Jefferies said: "It's a real pity we didn't come out with something from the game. We deserved it. We gave Tottenham problems, but we gave them two goals and that is disappointing.

"For the first, we tried to be too clever in the bottom corner. Wayne Jacobs gave the ball to Eoin Jess who had gone to support him. Eoin's first instinct was to try to play it up the line when he should have put it out of play or whack it upfield.

"Wayne Jacobs held his hand up for the second goal and said he should have put the ball out of play. Everyone was willing him to play it into touch, but he lost it and they went on to score.

"So, we were punished for our mistakes. We have talked about mistakes. Players have got to learn from their mistakes and cut them out, but no way am I angry with the team, they were excellent."

Defeat was tough luck on City who had fought back from 1-0 down to equalise a minute before half-time

Striker Ashley Ward played Walsh's long clearance into the path of Jess who scored from the edge of the penalty area.

That goal cheered City's band of travelling supporters sat in the upper tier of the main stand at White Hart Lane and they nearly more to cheer about seven minutes into the second half when Blake fired into the net after Ward's rebounded off the post.

Celebrations were cut short when the referee ruled that Blake was offside, but Jefferies wondered if it was the right decision.

He said: "The decision that went against us would have given us a 2-1 lead. It was one of those incidents I would like to see again.

"The linesman gave Robbie Blake offside when he put the ball in the net after Ashley Ward had hit the post, but what would have happened if Ashley's shot had gone straight in? Would he have been offside then? Robbie was not interfering with play when Ashley shot."

Well as the outfield players performed, the City player who stole the show again was goalkeeper Gary Walsh who produced some great saves to keep City in the game. Three times he blocked goalbound shots from Rebrov and produced a point blank to deny Gary Doherty in stoppage time.

Hoddle was relieved to win, but he acknowledged this had been a difficult first home match for him.

The theme tune from Spurs' glory years, Glory, Glory Halleluiah blared out as we left the ground, but he knows there is much work to be done before Tottenham reach the heady heights of their past.