Published: 2 March, 2014
by DAN CARRIER at White Hart Lane

Premier League
SPURS 1, CARDIFF CITY 0

STRIKER Roberto Soldado grabbed his first goal at White Hart Lane from open play this season to seal three points for Spurs against relegation-threatened Cardiff City.

The stuttering striker fired home in the first half, and Spurs manager Tim Sherwood said after the game he knew it was only a matter of time before things came good for the forward.

He said: “I looked him in the eye in training and I knew he had the belief.

“I knew he'd get himself out of it, and hopefully this will be a platform to score goals right through to the end of the season. He'll get some confidence from it, and we saw him forming a partnership with Adebayor.”

He praised the way the striker took his chance. Sherwood said: “It was a very good finish. He had a lot to do, and didn't have time to think about it. It was instinctive.”

With Soldado restored to the starting XI, Sherwood reverted to a 4-4-2 formation, and with two forwards, Spurs looked good in the opening stages.

Cardiff City were defending in depth and when Soldado's moment arrived on 28 minutes, it was the result of Cardiff finally venturing into the Tottenham half and being caught on the break.

The striker finished off a move that had started through a quick break led by Andros Townsend. The winger found Emmanuel Adebayor and his slide-rule ball to his stuttering strike partner gave the forward the perfect chance to break his goalmouth hoo-doo. He nipped into space and steered home with the outside of his right boot.

With Spurs showing confidence, a second would not have been undeserved: Mousa Dembele went close with a drive and Michael Dawson had two good chances from corners.

It was to be the best moments Spurs could conjure up. The second half turned tetchy and disjointed, with Spurs enjoying plenty of possession but finding Cardiff hard to break down. The visitors continued to defend and play on the counter, and though Adebayor and Soldado linked well, David Marshall in the City goal was rarely troubled again.

In the end it was a workmanlike victory, but one that keeps Tim Sherwood's hope of a top-four finish alive. He now takes his charges to Chelsea next weekend, and then faces both Arsenal and Liverpool in March. The manager added: “We'll be looking to mess up a few other teams' seasons as much as we can in the coming weeks.”

SPURS: Lloris, Vertonghen, Lennon, Paulinho (Sandro, 72), Soldado (Kane, 82) Adebayor, Naughton, Townsend (Chadli, 69), Dembele, Dawson, Fryers.
Attendance: 35,512

SPURS COMMENT by Dan Carrier

ROBERTO Soldado's much-discussed barren spell had come to represent the disappointment felt of spending £100m in the summer but still being off the top four. Splashing £26m on a number nine was meant to furnish the side with the finished article.

The Spanish forward came with a reputation as a goal machine, but by autumn, with just one goal from open play to his name, it was beginning to feel like that "selling Elvis, buying The Beatles" line over Daniel Levy's scatter-gun strengthening was a cruel joke.

Soldado was banished to the bench when the new year started, and to make matters worse, when he did have a run-out, he was missing sitters. So the cute 28^th minute finish was well worth the wait: a combination of movement, ball control and vision, Soldado showed the Lane he's got what he'd been advertised as possessing when he joined in August.

His winter blues have been arduous to endure but perhaps the goal machine we'd been promised is sparking into life for the run-in.