Tottenham 1 Wolves 1

With four home games in January in the Premier League it was always likely to happen that Spurs would slip up somewhere through the month and so it proved against Wolves who battled well for their point, assisted once again by some basic refereeing mistakes.

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

Scorers:  Modric                                         Fletcher 

Team: Friedel; Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto (Rose); Lennon (Defoe), Parker, Modric, Bale; Van der Vaart, Adebayor  Subs (unused): Cudicini, Kranjcar, Bassong, Liveremore, Pavlyuchenko 

Luka Modric

Disappointment, annoyance and frustration are the main feelings following Spurs home draw with Wolves.   Disappointment that two points were dropped against a team that Spurs should have beaten, annoyance that once again Spurs have lost points due to basic refereeing mistakes and frustration that those dropped points have prevented Spurs from sitting joint top of the League level on points with Manchester City and United.

Scott Parker's return to the side after injury in place of Jake Livermore was the only change from the team that defeated Everton on Wednesday evening.  Former Spurs schoolboy, Michael Kightly started his first League game of the season for Wolves after returning from a loan period with Watford.

Wolves showed their intent for hard work and endeavour from the start and Luka Modric also showed his early ambition of scoring a goal with a shot which passed just wide after four minutes.  The move had started with a good cross-field pass from Rafael Van der Vaart to Aaron Lennon who interpassed with Kyle Walker to set up Modric on the edge of the box.  As was to be expected Tottenham enjoyed the majority of the possession with Wolves working hard, high up the pitch, to deny them space and time.  The visitors tactics were very effective but Younes Kaboul was taking the game to them with powerful surging runs out of defence towards the Wolves area and from one of these runs after seventeen minutes he set up Emmanuel Adebayor who took the ball to the bye-line and pulled it back to Modric but as he tried to get control a defender managed to knock the ball away.

A minute later a Gareth Bale shot was deflected over for a corner as Wolves tackled quickly but the visitors were finding it more difficult to get out of their half as Spurs hemmed them in and started to build up some pressure.  On twenty minutes Modric again shot over following a good run by Lennon.

Then Wolves received just the boost their game plan needed.  On twenty one minutes Wolves were awarded their first, and only, corner.  Walker had carefully marshalled the ball out for a goal kick but the referee incorrectly gave them the corner.  Wolves play lives on corners and free-kicks so the defenders came forward and with poor Spurs defending Johnston got a header on goal.  Brad Friedel made a reflex save but it dropped to Steven Fletcher who poked the ball home from a few yards.  Spurs defenders should have coped with the corner but the referee's decision had cost Spurs and to add insult to injury it was the 1000th Premier League goal Spurs have conceded, the first club to reach that unwanted landmark.

Taking the lead inspired Wolves to maintain their hard work and for a time Spurs showed their annoyance with increased efforts on goal.  Two minutes later Modric found Bale in the centre but his shot went over.  Following good play between Van der Vaart and Adebayor, Bale had another shot blocked.  Van der Vaart had a long range effort deflected for another corner and then with over half an hour gone a Benoit Assou-Ekotto cross was headed out by a defender to Modric on the edge of the area but the goalkeeper saved his shot easily.

As Spurs pushed for a goal Wolves saw greater opportunities to counter attack and in the five minutes before half-time they had two goal scoring attempts - a shot wide and one over by Kightly.  Spurs retaliated with a shot from Kaboul which was saved and a goal disallowed for offside.  Bale had a shot which could possibly have been going in, touched into the net by Adebayor who was incorrectly given offside.  This is the third occasion since early December that Adebayor has had goals incorrectly disallowed for off-side - at Stoke and against Chelsea.

The half ended with a free-kick from Van der Vaart being caught by the goalkeeper.  Wolves had the interval lead when if the refereeing decisions had been correct Spurs would have been one goal to the good.

Spurs started the second half determined to get on level terms as Bale shot over but poor defending allowed Frampong a shot which Friedel saved.  Then on fifty minutes Modric scored.  It was a goal similar in creation to the one against West Brom.  Van der Vaart received the ball in the area and passed out to Bale on the edge of the box and he played it across the area for Modric to score from twenty five yards.

Three minutes later the goalkeeper saved Wolves when stopping a shot from Modric and the follow up from Lennon.  On the hour Bale headed a Assou-Ekotto cross over and then two minutes later he headed a Lennon cross towards the centre but neither Van der Vaart nor Adebayor could get a scoring touch.  Van der Vaart put a free kick just wide as Spurs searched for the goal to put them ahead.  Bale and Walker both shot over and then the goalkeeper saved with his feet from Jermain Defoe who had replaced Lennon with seventeen minutes remaining.

Spurs continued to press as Walker had a shot blocked and Modric shot over.  The last opportunity to get a winner came in the final minute of added time but Bale's free-kick sailed over the bar.

Wolves deserved their point for their determined play and looked dangerous when they broke from defence but there is that annoying thought that Spurs were deprived of the three points by refereeing decisions going against them.  All the papers today are focusing on the 'Spurs fall short' theme in their attempt to go level on points with City and United but overlooking the refereeing decisions.  Similar decisions against Stoke City and Chelsea have now cost Spurs seven points.

The result now makes next weekend's match even more important for Spurs as they need to prevent City opening up an eight point gap, unless Wigan can do a 'Wolves' tomorrow evening. 

When Has This Happened for Spurs?

When have Spurs ever benefited from refereeing decisions in a game to such an extent as happened against Stoke last weekend?  In almost fifty years of supporting the club I can't think of any examples.

Pre-order: (use Code LH1)

Now that the win over Sunderland has restored our equilibrium, I've been thinking about that loss at the Brittania Stadium and if there has ever been a similar example where Tottenham have been the benefactors of such a display of refereeing where so many mistakes went in our favour and handed us victory on a plate.

Stoke had a number of decisions which went in their favour, courtesy of referee Chris Foy and his assistants:

• Peter Crouch clearly handled the ball in the lead up to the first goal
• Younes Kaboul was dragged down as he jumped for the ball at a corner
• Shawcross handled the ball on the line from Kaboul's shot
• Emmanuel Adebayor's disallowed goal was two yards on-side
• William Gallas was fouled as he went to for a tap-in
• Another handball from a Defoe shot
• Kaboul's dismissal from two soft yellow cards with the second coming when the Stoke player advanced from an offside position
• Woodgate could have had a second yellow card in the first half for a foul on Parker 

Now some will say, "Move on - get over it," and I have but it's out of interest that I ask the question.

When have Spurs ever benefited from refereeing decisions in a game to such an extent as happened against Stoke last weekend?

Every team has been gifted a win where an offside goal was allowed or an undeserved penalty awarded or a crucial decision went in their favour but I'm thinking about times when it appeared that almost every decision was favourable and resulted in a Tottenham win.

It's appropriate to raise the topic a week on from the Stoke game as I was reminded when I was reading 'Vertigo' by John Crace at the weekend that our next opponents, Chelsea, had favourable decisions at Stamford Bridge last season which gave them the three points - the Lampard shot which Heurelho Gomes allowed to slip past him but recovered only for the goal to be awarded and then, their winning goal was offside.

It is undeniable that against Stoke, Spurs found themselves into a difficult position because of poor defending in the first half but the refereeing decisions prevented them from making a comeback and possibly winning the game.  It is also true that if Gomes had dealt properly with Lampard's shot - basic goalkeeping - then Chelsea wouldn't have had the boost of going in level at the interval and that his mistake was the cause of Spurs' downfall.

Our selective 'Spurs' memory always allows us to remember the mistakes that have gone against us while deleting those which were favourable but I can't remember any occasion when Tottenham benefited in such a dramatic way when winning a game since I started following them in 1965.

The one occasion that I do know of when they did have the advantage of poor refereeing which enabled them to win a game was as far back as April, 1952, a few months before my birth.  Spurs beat Huddersfield Town 1 - 0 at White Hart Lane thanks to a goal similar to the one Blackburn scored last month from a corner where Pedersen dribbled into the penalty area having been the only player to touch the ball.  His cross was then finished off by Junior Hoilett. 

Eddie Baily

In Spurs game Eddie Baily who later became Assistant to Bill Nicholson at Spurs, took a corner but the ball struck the referee and rebounded to Baily who crossed for Len Duquemin to head the winning goal.  The goal should have been disallowed as no other player touched the ball before Baily played it a second time.  Despite much protesting from the Huddersfield players the referee was unmoved and his decision stood giving Tottenham the two points for the win with Huddersfield suffering relegation at the season's end.

If anyone can suggest examples of occasions when Spurs wins have come about through controversial decisions by the officials, I would like to know about them.