From Gus Poyet’s lips, came Tottenham’s salvation. The Uruguayan midfielder echoed the words of the press in midweek when suggesting that all Spurs needed was a lucky goal to get back on track. It arrived midway through a tight first half at Craven Cottage when Christian Ziege cracked a free kick off the Fulham wall, onto Teddy Sheringham’s head and the ball flew past a wrongfooted Edwin van der Sar to put the visitors in front. That was Sheringham’s first league goal since December 3rd and set Tottenham on the way to their first league win in five matches.
There was an almost immediately a second for Spurs, who soon swept away all those worries about injury lists and a loss of form. Ziege took aim again from distance and, although van der Sar parried away the wing-back’s piledriver, Poyet was on hand to prod home his thirteenth goal of the season from close range. That was all Tottenham needed to claim a precious three points – although Fulham could justifiably a little hard done to.
This cagey London derby had little goalmouth action until the decisive moment provided by Sheringham’s unorthodox opener. Tottenham began purposefully enough with Stefan Iversen heading over an early Poyet cross, but it was Fulham who offered the more serious threat. Steed Malbranque and Louis Saha shoot wide before van der Sar was called upon to claw away an Iversen volley.
The goals gave Tottenham a cushion to protect and they were quite happy to sit off a Fulham side who continued to play patient, possession football. It took until first half stoppage time for the hosts to break down that resilient rearguard action with Malbranque playing Marlet into space down the wing. The French international measured an inviting cross for Barry Hayles to attack, but the forward only managed to head wide of the far post.
Spurs put together a sweeping move to start the second period. Ledley King conjured up a defence-splitting ball from deep in Tottenham territory. Iversen timed his run to perfect to race clear of an awfully square Fulham defence but, instead of running in on goal, the Norwegian took his shot early – and drove disappointingly wide. Jean Tigana’s men then put their visitors under a prolonged period of pressure but their best chances fell to Marlet, who was far from clinical. He saw a header midway through the second half strike Sheringham and then managed to hit the post with a free header from six yards out five minutes later.
Tottenham grew in confidence after surviving those scares and might easily have added a third on the break. Iversen sped away from Goma and crossed for Simon Davies, who nodded wide with his first touch after coming off the break. Goma then came to Fulham’s rescue to deny Sheringham a tap-in after Ziege had thundered down the left flank and, although Neil Sullivan did superbly to keep out a late Saha volley, Fulham had visibly wilted well before the final whistle.
FULHAM (4-3-3): van der Sar; Finnan, Harley (Brevett 57), Ouaddoh, Goma; Davis, Legwinski, Malbranque; Marlet, Saha, Hayles. Subs (not used): Taylor, Melville, Collins, Boa Morte.
BOOKED: Malbranque, Goma.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (3-5-2): Sullivan; Perry, Thatcher, Gardiner; King, Anderton (Davies 75), Sherwood, Poyet, Ziege; Sheringham, Iversen. Subs (not used): Keller, Thelwell, Etherington, Rebrov.
BOOKED: Gardner, Sherwood.
GOALS: Sheringham (28), Poyet (31).
REFEREE: Paul Durkin (Dorset).
ATTENDANCE: 15,855.
