Stevenage 0-2 Spurs. Jon H reports

By Jon H
July 23 2003

Match report,
Arrived in Stevenage around 6ish. Absolutely chucking it down for the 15 min walk to the ground - not a taxi in sight at the station. Arrived at the ground to meet my ticket contact outside the player's entrance - who also informed me that he'd just spoken to "Glenn" who'd told him that Spurs will be fitting in a game against Blondel's old side Mouscron in Belgium soon. Sounds a bit iffy to me.

Onto the Broadhall Suite for a swift half [or three] to get out of the
rain. Into the ground [East stand upper first half - burger bar second
half] and it was a throw back to the old days with the pungent aroma of
skunk wafting round the terracing - some of the kids inadvertently caused
some amusement by asking mummy "what's that smell?" and "Daddy, I want one". You'd think the offending tokers would have had more sense but there you go.

Onto the game - Spurs started sluggishly and were on the back foot for the first few minutes, but soon got into their stride. Blondel, smooth and graceful with a lovely touch, fell foul of a couple of hefty challenges; Acimovic was average; Anderton looked trim but a little distracted - as if he had his mind elsewhere. A Spurs back three of Bunje, Ledley, and Gardner looked solid, if a little sluggish; Ziege, who got a great reception, and Marney, the wing-backs looked sprightly; Louise's hubby [first half captain] had a Nirvana, grunge look going on, but looked eager - he also exchanged pleasantries with one of the Stevenage players - something about "car park" and " afterwards". Slabber ploughed [a very] lone furrow up front and was guilty of two poor misses when clean through. Nice also to see Sully in goal. Acimovic also took his goal well after Bunje's defence-splitting pass.

After the hor's d'ouvre of the first half onto the main course - Postiga's arrival. If first impressions count for anything then bring on the season!! He looked sharp and graceful - like a thoroughbred gliding over the turf; his positional sense was also excellent, and he's not short of pace. He seems to have settled in with the other players and the prospect of him teaming up with Robbie and Blondel is truly mouth-watering. Then came the goal - a smart run down the right from Jonny Jackson was followed up at the far post by 'Postigol'!! 2-0. Toda played tidily but needs to work on ball retrieval; Davies went through the motions but looked ok; Tano [captain in the second half] got an extra point for refusing to talk to the ref after an altercation; Ricketts looked sharp and eager; Perry defended as tho' his life depended on it [as usual]; Sully was in goal for the second half too; Etherington looked lively; Gus looked trim and well. All in all a satisfying start to pre-season.
Jon H