A spirited fight back from two down with less than half an hour to go earned Spurs a pressure relieving point.

Both Spurs goals had a degree of good fortune. The first seemed to be a misplaced Sarr cross which flew into the top corner of the net. Son’s equalising penalty came from a rash and needless challenge by the Bournemouth keeper.

Spurs started the match in kamikaze fashion. Time and again, they gave the ball away in and around their own penalty area. Much to the annoyance of the home fans, this was a constant theme throughout the game. Eventually Vicario kicked the ball long to receive ironic cheers.

By then he had been called on several times to keep Spurs in the game including having to make three saves inside the opening four minutes with the Spurs defence seemingly intent on handing the Bournemouth strikers shooting practice

It came as no surprise when the visitors took the lead from yet another Spurs error.

Porro broke forward with options left and right. Yet with time and space and with Spurs players pouring forwards, he passed straight to a Bournemouth player who played the ball out to the space vacated by Porro on the left wing. The cross was perfectly placed and expertly finished to give the cherries a deserved lead.

The error strewn first half ended with Bissouma mis-controlling the ball, losing possession and receiving a yellow card for a desperate lunge. It was symptomatic of his performance.

Postecoglou had seen enough and replaced him with the effervescent Bergvall.

Son was also brought on for the ineffective Johnson. It is difficult to counter the argument that unless he scores, Johnson offers next to nothing else. Today he burst forward with an exceptional turn of pace but his thrust fizzled out like a damp firework on a rain drenched bonfire night…

The squad looked much stronger today with Solanke getting 90 minutes under his belt whilst Romero and Van de Ven also got some minutes after a three month lay off.

Romero looked very rusty in the opening exchanges which could easily have led to an early goal being conceded.

In contrast to Spurs chaotic approach, Bournemouth looked a well organised team. Players knew their roles and what was expected of them in those roles.

Their forward press around the Spurs penalty area was relentless and productive.

Out of possession, they showed desire, tenacity and controlled aggression to win the ball back and also won most second balls. In possession, they attacked with fluid one touch football at pace with an abundance of creativity and directness.

They also had a fantastic team goal disallowed for a marginal VAR offside decision. The move started from breaking up a Spurs attack in their own penalty area which led to a lung bursting run interspersed with lovely passes and finished with a perfect cross and excellent predatory first time finish.

They will have left N17 desperately disappointed not to have come away with all three points. They are ten points clear of Spurs in the table and on this performance, the gap between the two sides looked at least as big as that gap.

Spurs seemed to rely on the energy of individuals notably Spence and Bergvall.

In the closing minutes Spence moved over to right back to replace Porro and brought much more defensive cover to that side of the defence.

Sometimes a result can symbolically mean more than the number of points gained.

It is to be hoped this will be the case for Spurs in the days ahead of their crucial season defining Europa League second leg cup tie at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Thursday night.

It promises to be a tense and nerve jangling night!

#Coys

Ipswich Town 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur 

Johnson again ole ole ole!

A resounding away win gave Spurs their third successive Premier League win.

The opening ten minutes however suggested a completely different outcome. 

Ipswich had a goal ruled out for offside, hit the bar and missed a glorious one on one opportunity.

It was a torrid opening for Tottenham and seemed only a matter of time before Ipswich opened the scoring. 

The momentum changed with two quick fire Johnson finishes from Son assists which put Spurs in the ascendency.

In reverting back to one game a week, several players and not least Son looked revitalised.

Bergvall was superb in midfield. He has such poise on the ball and his ability to glide by players is a delight to behold. In the second half, he left several Town players in his wake before playing in Johnson for seemingly his hat-trick but his shot was blocked.

The starting line up had a couple of surprises not least with Danso and Gray swapping sides and Gray being asked to deal with Delap’s physicality. Given how Romero struggled to contain Delap at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, it felt a strange decision and even stranger after the opening ten minutes.

Last week’s match winner Maddison was dropped to the bench. With Johnson returning on the right wing. The manager no doubt recalled the earlier difficulties of playing Kulusevski and Maddison together in midfield.

Bentancur made up the midfield triumvirate and had a curious game. Some of his play was sumptuous but on other occasions his passing was quite horrendous and could easily have cost Spurs dearly.

Danso looked commanding in defence but needs to improve his distribution if he is to usurp Romero or Van de Ven. He was at fault for the Ipswich goal which thereafter was a very good goal. It involved intricate passing and a fine finish by Hutchinson who looks a very good player on today’s performance.

Having halved the deficit by half time, Ipswich came out in the second half and took the game to Spurs who struggled to contain the home attack.

The comeback seemed complete when with three players spare at the far post, the ball was headed into the net but thankfully it was ruled out for offside.

With players returning from injury, the bench looked very strong and in the end, this strength in depth helped put the game to bed.

Maddison alone made a huge difference when he came on with his performance being crowned by a quite marvellous assist.

His twinkle toed dribble into the penalty area saw him skip through a number of tackles before playing the ball back to Spence to fire home.

Spence capped yet another excellent performance with his first Premier League goal. His influence on the game from left back is reminiscent of Danny Rose’s rampaging runs in his pomp.

In the first half, his two footed ability under pressure in a tight area was quite magnificent.

Tel struggled today and was replaced by Scarlett whose deft flick on was picked up by Kulusevski. He ran down the right wing, cut inside and scored with a lovely angled shot which hit the inside of the left hand post before nestling into the back of the net.

As if a 1-4 away win wasn’t enough for a great day out for the travelling loud Spurs fans, news of a surprising West Ham victory at the Emirates rounded off a fun away day… Do do do, shame about the Arsenal rang out across Portman Road!

Hopefully in future seasons, Arsenal losing will have more relevance to Spurs in terms of their own challenge towards the top of the table…

With just one game to play before Spurs  Europa League tie away to AZ Alkmaar, Spurs should be well rested for this crucial cup tie.

#Coys