Jamie O'Hara continued his run of firsts as we qualified for the last 16 of the
UEFA Cup thanks to a 1-1 draw and 3-2 aggregate score over Slavia
Prague.
After his debut, first start, first home game, first call into the
England U21 squad and first game in Europe, the young midfielder bagged his
first Spurs goal to secure our place against PSV - who beat Helsingborgs 4-1 on
aggregate - in the last 16.
However, the night wasn't without a few
heart-stopping moments and it needed a fine save from recalled Paul Robinson
after Slavia had equalised in the second half to keep our noses in front of the
overall tie. The visitors also struck the post.
Similar to the first leg in
Prague, it shouldn't have been that way as chances again came and went as we
dominated in the first half.
On just seven minutes, the only incident before
being a savage challenge on Teemu Tainio by Daniel Pudil, came a special moment.
A Spurs boy scoring his first senior Spurs goal. There was a spot of aerial
pinball going on following a throw-in from the right, before Dimitar Berbatov
bought some order to affairs by bringing down and steering into the path of
O'Hara. The Academy graduate was always going to take this one on and the net at
the Park Lane end was soon rattling after a fierce low drive that picked up a
slight deflection which foxed goalkeeper Michal Vorel. Approaching the midway
point in the half Tom Huddlestone stretched Vorel to his left with the resulting
rebound falling to Aaron Lennon. He looked ready to wrap boot cleanly around
ball, but instead his effort arrowed downwards and Vorel was able to foil. He
wouldn't have been able to so much about O'Hara's next effort had his volley
from a deep Taino cross fizzed a yard closer to the goalline though. Darren Bent
came within a coat of crossbar paint to adding his name to the scoresheet just
before the half hour mark when he athletically attempted to nod an O'Hara cross
over Vorel. The goalkeeper got fingertips to his effort and the underside of bar
did the rest. The recalled Paul Robinson - in as skipper - was worked for the
first time ten minutes before the break when Jaroslav Cerny unleashed a swirling
drive that took a wicked bounce in front of the 28-year-old, who did
particularly well to scoop away. The opening moments of the second half came
close to producing a goal for Robbie Keane who was drafted in for Berbatov.
Lennon's squirted cross from the right was met on the full by the striker but it
drifted just wide. There came a leveller five minutes into the half when a
sweeping Pudil cross from the left was struck beyond Robinson by Matej Krajcik.
Pascal Chimbonda took a heavy whack that left him struggling and Steed
Malbranque was soon summoned to the touchline. O'Hara switched to left back and
the Frenchman slotted in ahead of him. Robinson thwarted some increased Slavia
energy with two saves from headers before Strihavka struck the post with a neat
effort on the turn. Juande Ramos responded with the introduction of Jermaine
Jenas for Lennon. Malbranque then scurried inside in an attempt to provide Bent
with half a chance that he did well to reach but Vorel closed down the angle.
Robinson was then forced into spectacular action to turn away Milan Ivana
free-kick and Slavia were growing in belief of forcing extra time, ambitions
that were almost ended when Bent again struck the bar with a lofted
effort.
That was the last of the action and a mouth-watering clash against
the Dutch giants awaits.
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