Tottenham Hotspur 1 Sunderland 2

Aug 24 2008 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

SPURS probably feared the worst when they saw Djibril Cisse warming up on the touchline.

If they didn’t, they should have. Twelve months ago it was debutant Michael Chopra who came off the bench to sink Spurs with a late winner at the Stadium of Light.

This time it was Cisse’s moment – and in Spurs’ own backyard.

Roy Keane has been searching for strikers all summer and his long wait finally paid off this week with the captures of Cisse and David Healy.

And, while Healy watched the 90 minutes from the bench, on-loan Marseille man Cisse made the perfect start to his Sunderland career by scoring the winner seven minutes from time.

No wonder the travelling Sunderland fans sang the bleached-blond striker’s name non-stop until the final whistle.

And there were other reasons to celebrate, too. Last season it took Sunderland until April to win away from home. This time round they will go to Wigan in three weeks’ time with a 100 per cent record on their travels! White Hart Lane is also traditionally a graveyard for Sunderland, and this victory ended their 30-year wait for a win in London, N17.

It was a fantastic result for Sunderland – not least because it came against a Spurs side who, bolstered by £44million of new talent over the summer, are regarded as the club most likely to challenge established order by breaking into the Premier League’s top-four cartel.

Not at this rate they won’t. Defeat at the hands of Sunderland was preceded by a 2-1 reverse at Middlesbrough on the opening day of the season, leaving them empty-handed after two games they will have pencilled in as victories.

New boy Cisse’s heroics even overshadowed the return of the Spurs old boys, which had been the talking point in the run-up to this game.

In the end, only one of Sunderland’s trio of summer signings from Spurs, Steed Malbranque, was fit to face his former club.

Teemu Tainio was always unlikely to feature after picking up a knock in the season curtain-raiser against Liverpool last weekend, but the absence of Pascal Chimbonda was a surprise and Keane was in no mood to explain his thinking after the game, simply pointing out that he picked a team he felt would win the game.

With Tainio missing, Dean Whitehead came back into the starting line-up and reclaimed the captain’s armband.

After playing left-back against Liverpool, Phil Bardsley moved across to his normal right-back role to replace Chimbonda, with Danny Higginbotham drafted in at left-back to fill the gap.

Spurs boss Juande Ramos’ decision to leave star striker Dimitar Berbatov out of his match day squad told its own story.

Berbatov has set his heart on a move to Manchester United and Spurs’ explanation for his omission – that he was not “focused” – suggests that the Bulgarian may yet get his wish. Spurs also brought back Ledley King at the heart of defence alongside Jonathan Woodgate, with Michael Dawson the man to give way.

The only other Spurs change from the starting line-up that lost at Middlesbrough last weekend was Gareth Bale’s inclusion at the expense of summer buy Giovani, who had to settle for a place on the bench.

But all Spurs’ other big-money summer signings were there – midfielder Luka Modric, frontman David Bentley and goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.

When the game got under way, chances were few and far between in a first half that was high on energy but low on goalmouth action.

Spurs enjoyed the bulk of possession and peppered the Sunderland penalty area with crosses, not least from all the corners they won.

But the best opportunities fell Sunderland’s way and they could have gone in at half-time ahead.

Six minutes before the interval Malbranque beat the keeper with a 25-yard effort, only to see the ball come back off the inside of the left-hand post, and no-one in a red and white shirt could react to turn home the rebound.

In the second half it was Spurs who looked the more likely to break the deadlock, and Bale should have done just that within three minutes of the restart, but the Welshman headed over the bar when it seemed he couldn’t miss.

It got worse for Spurs seven minutes later when Kieran Richardson produced a goal out of nothing.

Richardson had the benefit of a lucky bounce which took him past his man just outside the penalty area to the left of goal, but there was nothing lucky about the rasping right-foot drive which followed, with the ball flying across Gomes and into the right side of the net.

That goal stung Spurs into action and for the next 20 minutes the Sunderland goalmouth was under siege.

Spurs should have equalised just after the hour when a Bentley free-kick was parried by Craig Gordon and the ball ended up loose in the six-yard box, but Bale and Woodgate got in each other’s way and contrived to miss the gaping goal altogether.

In the 73rd minute Spurs found a way through. Daryl Murphy gave the ball away cheaply in the Spurs half and the Londoners poured forward.

Modric had a shot charged down but when the loose ball was played into his path again inside the box, he hit a low shot which was brilliantly stopped by Gordon, who was unlucky to see Jermaine Jenas lash home the rebound from close range.

Spurs looked like they would be the ones to go on and win, but then came Cisse's moment of glory, heading Murphy's perfect left-wing cross down and into the bottom left-hand corner.

There were smiles all round in the Sunderland camp at full-time but Spurs were left to trudge off to a chorus of boos.