Birmingham City robbed after brave fight against Tottenham Hotspur: Andy Walker's Big Match Verdict

Aug 30 2009 by Andy Walker, Sunday Mercury

BRAVE Birmingham were robbed of a deserved point at White Hart Lane yesterday as Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon pounced – in the FIFTH minute of injury time.

Alex McLeish’s battlers looked to have overcome a tall task having been given a second-half runaround by Spurs beanpole Peter Crouch.

Crouch came off the bench to head home a deserved 72nd minute opener before Lee Bowyer nabbed an equaliser minutes later.

However Stephen Carr, who had been excellent throughout, stumbled on the ball with seconds remaining to allow Spurs to break and Lennon to clinically finish.

“It was a bit of a boot in the proverbials but life goes on,” said McLeish.

“I’m proud of the players, the performance and we are all hurting a wee bit because we felt we deserved something.

“Stephen Carr is distraught, he had a fantastic game.

“It was as quiet as I’ve seen Aaron Lennon, ironically the match winner for Spurs, so human error and I still felt we could have defended it better when the ball was swept out to Lennon,” he added.

“Stephen didn’t need to say anything, you could see it in his face. He was consoled by his team-mates and deservedly so.

“We actually might have won the game at the end with two good chances, O’Connor and Johnson, after we had equalised. In the end I’m disappointed not to have taken three points,” said the Blues boss.

Blues had weathered an intense first-half storm, on a day hot-shots Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane had forgotten to pack their shooting boots.