Lennon´s late show extends Tottenham´s perfect start

Tottenham’s perfect start to the Premier League season continued on Saturday as Aaron Lennon’s stoppage time strike secured a 2-1 win over Birmingham at White Hart Lane.

Harry Redknapp’s second placed team led through Peter Crouch’s 72nd-minute header, but a mix-up between Alan Hutton and goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini allowed Lee Bowyer to tap home an easy equaliser moments later.

There was late drama however as Lennon showed fantastic ability as he cut inside five minutes into added time and drove his shot beyond Joe Hart to hand Spurs a fourth successive victory.

Defeat extended Birmingham’s woeful run in London and they have now picked up just one victory from 15 visits to the English capital’s clubs.

Redknapp reverted back to his preferred starting line-up despite fringe players impressing in the League Cup win over Doncaster in midweek, as Ledley King, Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane all returned to the side.

Birmingham threatened first as Cudicini showed good awareness to parry away a dipping half volley from Sebastian Larsson.

Croatian winger Luka Modric was the home side’s biggest threat and he broke down the left after 20 minutes, but as his cut back was met by Lennon, it was former Tottenham player Stephen Carr who made a great block on the goal line to deny an opener.

The game continued to flow from end-to-end as Larsson came close for Birmingham and Defoe missed an opportunity for the visitors, but from the midway stage of the half it became more tactical and chances were few and far between.

There was some bad news for Tottenham at half-time as King was replaced by Hutton. The defender is already battling an ongoing knee problem, but picked up a groin strain during the first half and Redknapp was not willing to take any risks.

And things became worse three minutes into the second period when Modric suffered a knock to the side of his right knee and was replaced by Crouch.

The tall England striker joined up with Defoe in attack, and Keane dropped onto the left side of midfield.

The game then began to become heated and Birmingham thought they should have had a penalty awarded on 56 minutes.

James McFadden went to ground as he raced past Wilson Palacios in the box, but referee Peter Walton waved away claims.

The incident seemed to have a negative effect on Alex McLeish’s men, as Crouch then came close with two headed efforts – the first of which bounced off the outside of the post and the other was cleared by Roger Johnson.

Crouch’s height was causing serious problems, and he hit the bar on 65 minutes with another header, before Lee Carsley managed to clear his next effort off the line.

Moments later the Spurs front man was wheeling away in celebration as he claimed another header had crossed the line after a Tom Huddlestone corner, but Carsley had managed to clear it just in time.

Finally, Crouch’s goal did arrive on 72 minutes. Huddlestone floated a free kick to the far post and this time there was nothing Birmingham could do to keep Crouch’s header from hitting the net.

It came as huge relief to the majority of supporters inside White Hart Lane, but the joy did not last long.

Three minutes later Redknapp was furious as poor defending allowed Birmingham level. Hutton tried to shield off Blues substitute Christian Benitiez, but got in a mix up with Cudicini and Bowyer was able to tap into an unguarded net.

Defoe was replaced by Roman Pavlyuchenko due to a wrist problem ten minutes from time, but it was Lennon who had the last say with his dramatic late goal that was drilled low into the bottom corner.