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Keane double beats Baggies

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Just as we were looking good for a point at White Hart Lane we decide to switch into kamikaze mode and self-destruct.

One nil up at half-time thanks to Curtis Davies but then former Wolves striker Robbie Keane equalised with a quality finish.

Albion were looking good for a point until Baggies defender Paul Robinson decided to knock the ball back 40-yards to Tomasz Kuszczak with only two minutes to go.

Albion fans gasped in horror as the keeper completely fluffed his clearance and tried a few deft tricks that Mr Woo would have been proud of. Jermain Defoe capitalising on the mistake only to be brought down by Kuszczak for a penalty that Keane duly dispatched into the goal to hand three points to Spurs.

We looked good first-half and were passing the ball around quite well, Spurs could not settle on the ball and they looked nervous as Albion took the game to them. We created chances and even took the lead in the 21st minute through Curtis Davies? header from Jonathan Greening?s cross.

We had already had a couple of opportunities before the goal with Nathan Ellington trying is luck from long distance and Ronnie Wallwork finally pulling the trigger from outside the box only to see his drive deflected away from goal.

We had started the game brightly and in the 21st minute we took the lead. Ellington was brought down by Spurs defender Michael Dawson. This allowed Albion midfielder Jonathan Greening to swing in a dangerous set-piece that the Spurs defender failed to deal with allowing Curtis Davies to rise above him and power a header past Paul Robinson in the Tottenham goal.
1-0 to the Albion who would have believed it, I reckon you would have got good odds on Davies being first goal scorer.

We started with two strikers and were playing some attacking football for the first time in a long time. Ellington and Kanu were linking well up front and causing Spurs problems, as they did in the reverse fixture where Albion beat Spurs 2-0.

Spurs attempted to get back into the game through former Leeds winger Aaron Lennon. The winger went on a direct run into the Baggies area only to see Steve Watson remove the danger by intercepting the players run.

Jermain Defoe was the next to test Albion?s resolve forcing Tomasz Kuszczak into a save. Lennon then called Kuszczak into action again with a snapshot from the edge of the Baggies box that the keeper did brilliantly to turn away.

The Baggies had got to half-time a goal in front and it was deserved, we had a lot of possession and we had created chances, enough chances to put us two up but one was all we had at half-time.

Spurs started the second-half the way they finished the first, attacking the Baggies goal. Kanu nearly sealed the points for Albion with a long-range effort that just cleared the Spurs bar.

Albion were holding their own and coping with everything Spurs had to throw at them. Spurs boss Martin Jol had seen enough and decided to stretch Albion by bringing on Egyptian striker Mido for full-back Stephen Kelly.

Spurs had now changed their formation to suit three strikers and nearly reaped the benefit straight away.
Mido received a pass from strike partner Defoe only to see his effort on goal fly across the Baggies goal much to the relief of Kuszczak and his defenders.

This was only going to be a warning to Albion as Tottenham threatened to break their resistance with more and more pressure.

Albion?s stubborn defence broke in the 67th minute when Spurs midfielder Michael Carrick split the Baggies defence with a fantastic through ball to Robbie Keane who chipped the ball over the advancing Kuszczak to put Spurs level.

Mido went close a couple of times for Spurs as Albion were rocked by the equaliser and he was looking more and more dangerous as Spurs pressured Albion even more.
Albion did have another couple of chances the best one fell to Kanu whose header was straight at Robinson in the Spurs goal.

The game was heading for a draw until Albion decided to throw it away, Paul Robinson decided to pass the ball back to Kuszczak with 2 minutes to go only to see the keeper fluff his clearance and bring Defoe down for the penalty.

Robbie Keane then took on the responsibility to fire Spurs to three points and help them cement their place in fourth place thus throwing Albion into further trouble at the bottom of the league.

A sickening defeat for the Baggies, after taking the lead and looking worth it to throwing the game away with more individual mistakes. At least a point was on offer but yet again we shoot ourselves in the foot and come away with nothing.

It was an encouraging display by Albion but yet again we have come away from the game with nothing. Chelsea, Manchester United, Blues and now Tottenham have been given a game by Albion only for us to come away with a point from twelve.

We are playing good football and actually looked threatening against Spurs but yet again we have lost out on the points thanks to individual mistakes.

We have one hell of a run in but if we apply ourselves in the same way as we did for the 88 minutes in this game we will be ok. Fingers crossed we give Liverpool a game on Saturday, it?s about time we turned up against them.

Baggies boss Bryan Robson
‘Even when they equalised we were the better team but we shot ourselves in the foot. We do it every week it seems, what can I say?
‘We keep giving away bad goals and you just cannot do that. It’s costing us.

‘We felt our forwards caused Spurs a problem but our problem is we cannot protect a lead. For much of the game we played some nice stuff.’

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