New England Soccer Today

Spurs Best Reading


Tottenham Hotspur continued their impressive form on Tuesday, defeating Reading 3-1 at White Hart Lane for their third straight win. Michael Dawson, Emanuel Adebayor and Clint Dempsey all scored for Spurs who came from behind to grab the impressive victory.

The win temporarily pushes Spurs (12-6-3, 39 points) into third place in the Premier League, one point ahead of Chelsea who play last place Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday. Reading (2-12-7, 13 points) stays mired in 19th place with the loss.

Spurs fell behind in just fourth minute when Pavel Pogrebnyak was fouled just outside the box by Kyle Naughton. Ian Harte blasted a free kick towards goal that was denied by the crossbar, but fell to Pogrebnyak who tapped it into the open net.

Six minutes later Tottenham would equalize through center back Michael Dawson, heading in a Gylfi Sigurdsson corner kick at the near post.

Spurs would dominate the rest of the half, but couldn’t find a second goal and went into halftime tied at 1-1.

Adebayor would score the game winner five minutes into the second period. The Togolese striker out-jumped his defender to impressively head in a cross from Aaron Lennon.

Dempsey would enter the match for Sigurdsson in the 76th minutes and put the game out of reach with his first touch of the ball three minutes later. The U.S. International got the ball from Sandro, turned towards goal, and then blasted a shot from 30 yards. Dempsey’s effort deflected off a defender and rose over Adam Federici and into the net to finish off the scoring at 3-1.

The goal was Dempsey’s first for Spurs at White Hart Lane and fourth overall this season. The former New England Revolution star is currently third in goals for Tottenham. The strike was Dempsey’s 54th career goal in the Premier League, but only the fourth he’s scored as a substitute.

After a busy holiday schedule, Spurs take a break from league play, but face Coventry on Saturday in the FA Cup. Spurs next Premier League game is against last place Queens Park Rangers on Monday, Jan. 14. That match can be seen live on ESPN2 at 2:55p.m.

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