Before
If we lost today and all those below us won, our position wouldn't change. Unlike others we can afford the luxury of looking upwards but the two clubs immediately above us, Fulham and Stoke, are taking on Wigan and Hull respectively and I can't see them dropping many points there. It's going to be a tough match for us today as Spurs have won their last five games but I think we can get at least a draw, if Mensah plays that is. Last Sunday's no-show was hopefully a blip on the road to recovery but fair dues to Liverpool, they played very well and would've beaten most sides. There's plenty of edge to today's match with the Bent angle being most to the fore and how great would it be to see him get a goal, especially after his penalty miss back in November. Kaboul will probably play for them and he's not exactly Mr Popular with us. I hope we can add to our ex-Spurs players collection in the summer as I rate Hutton and the way Bentley's been playing recently the £4 million price-tag, if true, seems decent money. I got my West Ham ticket sorted on Thursday so I'll soon be seeing us play again for the first time in yonks but Radio Newcastle will have to do for today. Defoe, Crouch and/or Pavlyuchenko will take some stopping so I'm pretty sure we'll concede a goal. My match prediction is 1-1.

The Match
So, Mensah wasn't even on the bench but I was glad at least to see Da Silva in there as he's got the big match experience. My heart sank when I looked at our back four as Da Silva was the only one that inspired me with confidence. I didn't know why Cana was suddenly removed from the bench, which he'd been due to share with Jones, but I was pleased to see that Defoe and Crouch were only on the Spurs bench. I had a struggle to get the internet radio connection and just as I finally connected to Real Radio, Bent put us 1-0 up. Perfection. A Spurs fan was promptly escorted out, which probably takes the '2009-2010 Longest Journey for the Shortest Attendance Award'. Speaking of awards, Bent had shaved two seconds off Campbell's 'Fastest Premier League Goal of the Season Award'. Elsewhere both Wigan and Bolton went a goal down so things were going ominously well. After fifteen minutes we were again denied a very good penalty shout when Henderson was fouled as we pressed forward in inspiring style. It sounded a great atmosphere with the three thousand Spurs fans playing their part. As the half-hour approached Walker handled in the box and Bent scored his second from the spot right in front of those Spurs fans. Spurs had hardly threatened but started to create the odd dangerous move as half-time neared. With five minutes left Campbell was brought down in the box but Gomes saved from Bent, as he'd done before of course. Still, at the break I was very happy indeed with the score and a performance that Gary Rowell had described as, “Magnificent.” Our midfield in particular had played very well and Gordon had hardly been troubled by a team with Champions League aspirations.

As we kicked off, Defoe was on for them, which was no surprise, and he was soon in the action but Gordon pulled off yet another great save. No doubt Harry had been apoplectic in the changing-room, which is not an image that I'd care to dwell on, and it had clearly had an effect on his team as they were much more positive in the early stages of the half. Next thing, though, we had yet another penalty when Meyler was brought down but Bent's shot hit the post and Gomes saved again. The commentator suggested that Gomes and Bent had spent so much time training together that Gomes knew his moves too well. I felt sure there'd be at least another goal. Next thing goal-machine Anton Ferdinand appeared to have made it 3-0 and Real Radio went offline but when normal service was resumed, the goal had been disallowed. This was of course disappointing but I was just glad that most of the action was up the Spurs end.

With twenty minutes left Crouch replaced Pavlyuchenko and very soon he nodded a goal back. Having had so many chances to finish the game, we were back to the usual eyes-on-the-clock routine. Jones and Zenden replaced Bent and Malbranque, who each received a good ripple from both sets of fans. Hopefully Kenwyne could help to deal with Crouch's aerial threat. Zenden had a shot cleared off the line that had Gary Rowell exclaiming, “This game's mental!” With five minutes left I was pacing from one end of the room to the other concentrating on not stepping on the lines of the tiles when Zenden atoned for his earlier miss by smashing a great third goal into the top corner. I don't know about the game but our crowd sounded like they were going mental. Campbell received a deserved ovation when he went off near the end and he's changed a lot of minds with his recent performances. There were five minutes of stoppage-time but I was quite happy as I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

It's time to dust off another cliché so here it comes – this game had everything. It was a great performance and a great result while Bolton, Hull and Wolves all lost and Blackburn only drew at Portsmouth. This is going to be a good evening.

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