Match Report

Tottenham Hotspur

Coventry City

Walker, Fox, Nielsen, Armstrong (Ferdinand, 54), Carr, Ginola, Vega, Campbell, Klinsmann, Saib (Calderwood, 5), Berti.

Attendance
33,463

Referee
M A Riley

Ogrizovic, Shaw, Burrows, Breen, Whelan, Dublin, Telfer, Hall (Soltvedt, 65), Nilsson, Moldovan (Huckerby, 60), Strachan (Boland, 73).

Subs not used: Grodas, Anderton, Scales.

Subs not used: Hedman, Williams.

Booked: Berti, Calderwood.

Booked: Telfer, Hall, Huckerby.

Goal Scorer: Berti 68

Goal Scorer: Dublin 86

    Dion Dublin plundered his 20th goal of the season four minutes from the end to give Coventry a 1-1 draw and cut off a vital FA Carling Premiership lifeline for stunned Spurs after they looked sure to earn three vital points with Nicola Berti's header.
    The Italian midfielder, on loan at White Hart Lane until the end of the season, launched himself at David Ginola's 68th-minute corner to finally crack open Coventry City's stubborn defence.
    And when Berti performed a magnificent tackle on the edge of his own box to deny Coventry substitute Darren Huckerby with time running out, he looked sure to have completed a rescue mission that would have boosted Spurs' fight against relegation.

    But with home fans counting down the seconds to a much needed home win England striker Dublin seized on Huckerby's square pass to slide his shot past Ian Walker from 16 yards - only the second on target attempt by the Sky Blues all match.
    Spurs worked hard for their lead but once more they were caught out at the back by a late equaliser and their supporters who had roared them on in appreciation of a battling performance filed away in silence at the end of another disappointing afternoon.
    Now Spurs face a trio of critical matches against fellow strugglers Barnsley, Newcastle and Wimbledon with their top flight future still dangerously in the balance.

    And they could be without their new £3.5million Algerian midfielder Moussa Saib whose first home start lasted little more than a minute before he was carried away to hospital, knocked out by a frightening collision with the knee cap of Coventry's Romanian centre-forward Viorel Moldovan.
    Spurs boss Christian Gross ignored a tepid performance against Chelsea on Saturday to send out an unchanged team, and his loyalty would surely have been rewarded had winger Ruel Fox taken a gilt-edged chance in only the seventh minute.
    Centre-back Ramon Vega's thumping header came back off the bar following Ginola's beautifully flighted cross, but with the goal at his mercy Fox nodded the rebound over the top.
    Spurs continued to pepper the goal guarded by 40-year-old Steve Ogrizovic in his 500th League appearance.

    Ginola was twice only narrowly off the mark after typically surging runs and Alan Nielsen inches wide with a cracking low drive from 20 yards, but it was not until stoppage time in the first half that big Oggy had to make a real save - plunging to deflect another Vega header outside a post.
    Coventry's Gary Breen and Richard Shaw stood up strongly to a Tottenham battering, and to a man the Sky Blue defenders dug in hard to deny the efforts of the elusive Ginola and Jurgen Klinsmann.
    Manager Gordon Strachan was embroiled in a furious row with the Tottenham bench after David Burrows challenged Ginola just before the break and the Frenchman went flying theatrically to the floor.

    Referee Mike Riley took six names in the match but no action on this occasion, and it was left to Spurs to keep up the tempo in the second half.
    The introduction of substitute Les Ferdinand did not please Chris Armstrong, the man he replaced and who ran straight down the tunnel after a short word or two over his shoulder to boss Gross.
    But Ferdinand's arrival gave Spurs more impetus, and Klinsmann, although again looking a shadow of his former self, managed two on-target efforts which Shaw and then his own team-mate Vega blocked in front of goal.
    But with 68 minutes on the clock Ginola finally abandoned his earlier policy of playing short corners and arrowed one over from the right which Berti, arriving late in the box, headed home like a meteor for his third Spurs goal and his first at White Hart Lane.
    That seemed to be that - even more so after Berti's wonderful tackle to deprive Huckerby of a great opening.
    With Coventry badly missing the muscular influence of injured Dutchman George Boateng it seemed certain that Spurs would now hold on to their advantage.
    But just when three points seemed in the bag Coventry, whose only previous genuine shot at goal was a first-half effort by Paul Telfer, sent Dublin into the charge - and he did not let them down.
    Spurs failed to clear the danger as the ball bobbed around on the edge of their box before Huckerby finally took control to slide in the kind of chance that Dublin has lived on all season.

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