Tottenham Hotspur had the upper hand in the first half of today's game at White Hart Lane, as they comprehensively outplayed Blackburn Rovers to take a 1-0 lead at half time, and it could have been a lot more.
Tottenham Hotspur Vs. Blackburn Rovers, 2012 Premier League: Spurs Deservedly Lead 1-0 At Halftime
Spurs missed a huge opportunity to open the scoring inside the first 60 seconds of the game when Luka Modric had a speedy burst into the area, crossed across the face of goal and with an empty net waiting, Aaron Lennon managed to miss the target from all of two yards out under mild pressure from Marcus Olsson.
Sandro was the next to go close for the home side when he hit an absolute thunderbolt of a shot from 25-yards. Paul Robinson in the Blackburn goal was well beaten, but the crossbar came to his rescue to keep the scores level after 7 minutes of play. Rafael Van Der Vaart and Emmanuel Adebayor lay in wait for the rebound, but only managed to get in each others way rather than finish the job.
Lennon was at the heart of the action once again on 13 minutes when he was put through on goal by Adebayor, but the England winger seemed to lose his nerve at the last moment and hopelessly over hit his cross to Van Der Vaart who was lurking in the center, when really Lennon should and could have shot for goal himself.
Spurs did take the lead on 21 minutes through Van Der Vaart. A looping cross to the back post by Lennon was headed towards goal from close range by Gareth Bale. Scott Dann did superbly to get himself under it and stop it going in via the crossbar, but Van Der Vaart was there to force the ball over the line (just) on the rebound, giving the home side a deserved lead for their first half endeavor, as Blackburn had offered very little to this point in the game.
The home side nearly doubled their advantage on 41 minutes when following a corner, William Gallas rose the highest and headed on to the crossbar from close range.
Tottenham's dominance continued throughout the half, and although they couldn't convert many of their chances, it was looking incredibly bleak for Blackburn who simply couldn't at all get out of their own half. Even the usually sprightly David Hoilett seemed to see the game pass him by, meaning Steve Kean would have to give a serious team talk, and perhaps abandon their previous game plan.
Harry Redknapp’s half time chat would no doubt be quite simply “more of the same” as his side look to add to their comfortable lead.
For more match reaction an and analysis check out out Tottenham Hotspur Blog, Cartilage Free Captain.
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