Speed tribute a ´special moment´ for Bale

Gareth Bale said it was a “special moment” being able to dedicate his goal in Tottenham’s 3-0 win over Bolton to Gary Speed.

Bale opened the scoring after seven minutes with a fine flick from Luka Modric’s corner and paid tribute to former Wales boss Speed, who passed away last weekend.

After scoring, Bale removed his boot to show ‘RIP Gary Speed’ stitched into it and has said he was glad to being able to honour Speed, on a day when clubs all over the country remembered the 42-year-old.

“I had my boots done a couple of days ago and I thought if I managed to score, I’d take it off to pay tribute to Gary and his family,” Bale told Tottenham’s official website.

“It was a special moment and nice to be able to honour him in that way.”

Tottenham’s win kept them in the hunt for the title, with the North Londoner’s sitting in third place in the table, trailing Manchester City by seven points but with a game in hand.

It was their sixth successive Premier League victory as they stretched their unbeaten run to 11 league games.

Bale had given Spurs an early lead before Bolton were reduced to 10-men after a foul by Gary Cahill on Scott Parker earned the defender a straight red card.

Tottenham were thwarted time and time again by visiting goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, who made a string of stunning saves to keep his team in it.

There was nothing he could do however, when Aaron Lennon fired home a second shortly after the break and Defoe sealed the points when he swept in a third on the hour mark.

Bale was delighted with the win and felt that Spurs could have won by a bigger margin if not for the efforts of Jaaskelainen.

“It was important we got off to a good start and we spoke about that before the game,” he said.

“It could have been five or six at half-time but their goalkeeper played a blinder.”

“Thankfully we got the second goal early in the second half, that made it easier and we saw the game out.”