Redknapp praise for Kranjcar

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp hailed Niko Kranjcar for his ‘magical’ injury-time winner in Spurs’ 2-1 win over Bolton on Saturday.

The Trotters looked set to steal a point at White Hart Lane after Daniel Sturridge cancelled out Rafael van der Vaart’s penalty goal 10 minutes into the second half.

But Kranjcar spared Tottenham’s blushes with a screamer from long range in the 93rd minute, the Croatia international’s first goal of the season.

Redknapp was full of praise for the 26-year-old, who has struggled to maintain his place in the team this term.

“In the end it’s a magical piece of play from Niko Kranjcar to win the game,” Redknapp told Sky Sports.

“He’s not one of the boys who throws the towel in and spits his dummy out when he’s left out of the team; he’s the exact opposite to that.”

“He’s come out today, he’s not been on the pitch long but he’s shown fantastic ability to score the winning goal and he deserves it.”

But Redknapp felt Spurs were robbed of another goal by referee Mark Clattenburg, who ordered Van der Vaart retake a penalty in the eighth minute after ruling Wilson Palacios had illegally encroached in the area.

The Dutchman lined up once more but sprayed his shot wide of the left post.

“The second penalty, how they’ve pulled that back I don’t know,” the Spurs boss said.

“Every penalty you see would be brought back for encroachment if you look across the line.”

“I don’t think it’s a massive problem if it hits the back of the net. If the keeper saves it and he follows up the rebound then it’s different.”

“He’s put the penalty away, it’s a goal, we go two up and I don’t think there’s any danger. But we missed the retake and it looked like it might be one of those days.”

Bolton boss Owen Coyle was also displeased with Clattenburg, believing the referee missed a clear penalty after Trotters defender Gary Cahill appeared to be tripped in the area by Benoit Assou-Ekotto.

If that was not bad enough, the referee booked Cahill for diving instead.

“It was a stonewall penalty. The lad’s left his leg out and Gary’s tried to step over him,” Coyle said.

“It was 1-1 then. This is a good result that has been taken away from us.”

“To compound that and say that Gary Cahill was cheating in trying to gain an advantage of a penalty, that’s one thing the lad would never do.”