Spurs boost survival hopes

Tottenham Hotspur boosted their Premier League survival bid as Jonathan Woodgate's late header secured a 2-1 win at Hull City.

Woodgate secures win after Turner cancels out Lennon opener

Tottenham Hotspur boosted their Premier League survival bid as Jonathan Woodgate's late header secured a 2-1 win at Hull City. Ahead of the Carling Cup final, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp would have been looking for a lift and he found it in the form of last season's Wembley hero Woodgate. The centre-half rose with purpose in the penalty area four minutes from time to connect with Benoit Assou-Ekotto's left-wing cross and guide a header inside the upright. Spurs had earlier taken the lead on 17 minutes through Aaron Lennon's fine shot from the edge of the area, but the visitors were generally lacklustre in the first half. The Tigers deservedly drew level 10 minutes after falling behind when Michael Turner stabbed home from close range after Spurs keeper Carlo Cudicini flapped at Andy Dawson's corner. City retreated more into their shell in the second half and Spurs almost regained the lead when Vedran Corluka's header clipped the top of the crossbar. Kamil Zayatte's header, which came back off the post, was City's only chance after the break, but they appeared to be on the way to a point until Woodgate's late intervention.

Scare

Richard Garcia was given another chance in attack by City boss Phil Brown and the Australian looked in the mood, winning a corner in the opening minutes with a deflected shot. Spurs then suffered a scare of their own making when Woodgate attempted to head a Garcia flick-on back to Cudicini. The goalkeeper was caught unawares and had to scramble back to gather. Spurs responded and won a corner when Anthony Gardner, making only his fifth Hull appearance since his £2.5million move from Spurs last summer, produced a fine tackle on Darren Bent. The opener then came as Luka Modric played a short one-two from the corner with Robbie Keane and then found Lennon in good space on the edge of the box. Lennon was given too much time by Hull and rifled a superb 20-yard shot past Matt Duke with 16 minutes gone. Hull were unbowed and, after a slight lull in proceedings, claimed a scrappy equaliser 10 minutes later after Corluka needlessly conceded a corner. Cudicini failed to gather Dawson's subsequent cross and the ball rebounded towards goal off the feet of Wilson Palacios. Defender Turner was the quickest to react and made no mistake as he slid in to stab home his fifth goal of the season from close range. Hull almost turned the game on its head just moments later as the ball broke to Cousin on the edge of the area and the former Rangers man flashed a fierce shot narrowly over. Sam Ricketts led a counter-attack but could not make firm contact with a header after laying off to Dean Marney and racing into the area for the resulting cross.

Further panic

Dawson also shot over from a free-kick after Modric earned a booking for bringing down Kevin Kilbane. The second half began at a frantic pace with both sides struggling to retain possession. The first chance fell to Spurs but Duke was equal to a smart turn and shot from Bent. Cudicini then induced further panic in the Spurs box when he chose not to attack another corner and had to palm away a Gardner header. Kilbane pounced on the rebound but his effort was blocked at close range. Gardner was then in action in his own area, getting his body in the way of a sweetly-struck volley from Palacios which seemed destined for the back of the net. Both sides conceded plenty of free-kicks and Hull were almost undone when Modric floated one into their box and Corluka rose to head against the bar. Hull were also finding set-pieces and crosses the most likely route to success after Cudicini flapped at another high ball. Hull hit the woodwork 13 minutes from time when Zayatte nodded a Dawson corner across goal but against the far post. It seemed remarkable that another goal would not materialise before the end and Spurs snatched the game when Assou-Ekotto picked out Woodgate with a fine cross.

Hull City	Team Statistics	Tottenham Hotspur
1	Goals	2
1	1st Half Goals	1
1	Shots on Target	3
8	Shots off Target	3
6	Blocked Shots	4
11	Corners	13
15	Fouls	9
5	Offsides	4
2	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
69.2	Passing Success	72.8
24	Tackles	23
70.8	Tackles Success	73.9
49.4	Possession	50.6
54.1	Territorial Advantage	45.9