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Blues started the game with a high tempo, which is exactly what is required in such games. Stern John wasted a glorious opportunity early on, after an excellent knock down by Clinton Morrison. John found himself one on one with the advancing Kasey Keller, and as such decided to try and chip the American. However, John got it horribly wrong, and ended up looping the ball up into the goalkeepers hands.
The half continued with chances few and far between. Spurs offered very little threat to the Blues defence, though the space afforded to Christian Ziege wide on the left was a worry. Ziege, however, was unable to take advantage, all too often wasting opportunities to cross or shoot. At the other end, Stan Lazaridis was struggling to have the same impact as he did at the Stadium of Light due to Stephen Carr and Darren Anderton doubling up on him every time he got the ball.
There was no real surprise that the game remained goalless until the half time interval, due to the lack of chances, and the game really and truly being played as a midfield battle, with Aliou Cisse and Steffan Freund in particular clashing on numerous occasions. At the back for Blues also, Kenny Cunningham and Darren Purse were marshalling Keane and Sheringham superbly.
The second half started in much the same vain as the first, with Blues enjoying the majority of the possession, without creating too many chances. It was something of a shock when Spurs broke away and took the lead 10 minutes into the second period. Lazaridis allowed Carr to keep the ball in, when it looked as though both man and ball should have been put in the stands. Carr found Anderton and he spread the ball wide out to Ziege who once again had found acres of space and was able to drive a low cross across the face of Nico Vaesen's goal. The Belgian 'keeper, Keane and Cunningham all went for the ball, and it broke to ex-England striker Sheringham who slotted the ball home from 8 yards into the unguarded net. It was Tottenham's first chance of the game.
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Blues eventually equalised on 68 minutes, from the most unlikely of sources. Captain and regular right back, Kenna, was playing left back again, as he has done of late due to injuries. As he moved forwards down the left, the Spurs defenders were far too concerned with the threat of a ball down the line to Lazaridis, and consequently allowed Kenna to cut inside onto his right foot, and unleash a 25 yard drive which took a slight deflection en route to the back of Keller's net.
Blues now had the initiative, and continued to pile on the pressure. The somewhat out-of-sorts John - possibly affected by his earlier miss - headed wide from 6 yards out, and both Kenna and Olivier Tebily (whose distribution had been appalling all game) took on advanced wing back roles, as oppose to their usual full back positions. Bryan Hughes replaced John, and late on ceased on a loose ball to move forward and lay the ball off to Morrison, who shot from an acute angle when a ball back across goal to the advancing Hughes was probably the better option.
After about 85 minutes, it appeared that both sides were willing to settle for the point, and the remainder of the game was played out without too much action or controversy. Whilst Blues will be mightily disappointed at dominating for long periods, they didn't create enough clear-cut opportunities for themselves, and those half chances that fell their way were spurned by both John and Morrison. There were certainly positives to take from the game however, in that this was the first time that Blues had conceded first at St Andrews and come back to get a result. All in all, whilst not as good as could have been hoped for, this was a decent enough point that moved Blues up to 11th and back above the Villa.
PLAYER RATINGS:
Vaesen - Redundant for long periods, not at fault for the goal
Tebily - Worrying defensively at times, and even worse with his distribution
Kenna - Solid performance capped by excellent strike
Purse - Excellent
Cunningham - Magnificent, won every ball in the air and every tackle
Devlin - Looked out-of-sorts again
Lazaridis - Less of a threat going forward, but still worked hard
Savage - Quieter than usual, possibly subdued by injury
Cisse - Faded in and out of the game
Morrison - A better all round performance
John - Early miss rocked confidence
SUBS:
Johnson - Not yet match fit, but worked well
Hughes - Fleeting, but positive appearance
Kirovski - Only on for about 30 seconds