Happy 125th birthday!

Spurs 4 Villa 4

After meeting Debs and Mick at the Bell & Hare for an hour before the game, John and I took our seats in the stadium at 7:30. Every fan had been given a special 125th anniversary flag which was nice and when the entire White Hart Lane crowd was prompted to wave theirs, it was a spectacular sight. Fifteen minutes before kick off, a huge amount of Spurs legends ranging from the 50s to (almost the) current day, were introduced to the fans to cheers and applause. These included Pat Jennings, Dave Mackay, Martin Chivers, David Ginola, Glenn Hoddle, Martin Peters, Mike England, Joe Kinnear, Ray Clemence, Gary Mabbutt and Steve Perryman. A few messages were played on the big screen from more legends such as Gary Lineker and Ossie Ardiles, apologising that they couldn't be there. Some of the trophies Spurs had won in years gone by were paraded and brief interviews were given by Hoddle, Ginola, Perryman and Mackay. The match was in memory of the late and great Bill Nicholson who passed away in 2004 and one minute of applause was a fitting appreciation of his dedication to the club. Bill was Mr. Spurs through and through and you don't come across many managers who are in love with their club these days.

Team line-up: Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, Kaboul, Lennon (Malbranque), Tainio (Defoe), Huddlestone, Zokora, Bale, Berbatov (Bent), Keane

Seeing that score you might think this was an eight goal thriller, but apart from Spurs' comeback, it was anything but. The majority of the game was woeful - basic passing seemed to be a complicated task and as for Robbo, surely he can't be left with the responsibility of being number one goalkeeper for much longer!

Dimitar Berbatov put Spurs ahead on 19 minutes with a downward header from a corner. However, whenever we go one up it always appears to spell disaster. Within a couple of minutes, Villa equalised after a complete cock up when Robbo dropped the ball and the defence was unable to clear it. The party had a real dampener put on it after 32 minutes when the ball struck Laursen after bouncing around in pinball fashion and he claimed his second goal. It got even worse with 39 minutes on the clock when a long clearance from Carson found its way to the feet of Agbonlahor, who then got the better of Dawson before driving low across Robinson and into the net.

And so going into the break, there was a terrible feeling of doom around the ground. I don't think Spurs deserved to be 3-1 down but time and again they don't learn and continue to defend very badly, especially when the ball is crossed into the box.

Into the second half they didn't play any better and it seemed as though they'd already accepted defeat. Defoe came on 8 minutes later to rapturous applause and had a shot on goal with his first touch. However, on 58 minutes, it was the worst possible scenario when Spurs gave away a free kick on the edge of the area. It was drilled home by Gardner past the wall, which suggested that maybe Robbo hadn't lined them up in the correct position. So 4-1 down and game over...well it should've been! At this stage the Villa fans were singing Happy Birthday to us and loads of fans decided enough was enough and swarmed out of the ground. Those people are now kicking themselves because they missed a fantastic comeback by Spurs - Chimbonda got his first goal of the season (and probably his only one) after the ball rebounded off the post from a Defoe effort. Now they started to have belief but why I ask, do they start playing now? Anyway, a penalty followed when Bent was bundled over and I saw Keane slotting it home though the gap in my hand! 3-4 and still time to equalise or even win it. In the 85th minute, Defoe put the ball in the net but it was disallowed due to an offside decision. In added time it all got very frantic but Spurs' renewed enthusiasm paid off. The ball was pinging about all over the place in Villa's box and eventually Kaboul managed to smash it into the top corner. OMG! The stadium erupted - even the guy next to me started to hug me; it was fantastic! This prompted a song directed at the Villa fans - '4-1 and you f***ed it up'! It may have ended a draw but it really felt like a win. At least the 125th anniversary game will now be remembered in a more positive way as opposed to being thrashed at home.

On the way out of the stadium, a received a tap on my shoulder and that person pointed in the direction of a girl a bit further back who was trying to get my attention. Turns out it was 'Fred', who frequents the Berbatov forum. We knew we were both at the game and in the same section, and although I didn't know what 'Fred' looked like, she knew what I looked like from a pic I had posted on the forum. She said she would say hello if she saw me, but because of the congestion getting out of the stadium, this was reduced to a smile and a wave. It was nice to see her nevertheless.