LONDON, Sept 16: Anthony Gardner was the unlikely hero as Tottenham Hotspur went second in the English premier league with a seesaw 3-2 victory over bottom club West Ham United Sunday.
The leggy defender drove in a deflected winner, his first goal for Spurs, with a minute left at White Hart Lane to snatch victory against a West Ham side who recovered from 1-0 and 2-1 down to equalise despite having defender Ian Pearce sent off.
In Sunday’s other game, 10-man Manchester City fought back from two goals down with 10 minutes left to draw 2-2 with Blackburn Rovers in a thrilling encounter at Maine Road.
Spurs’ win lifted their points tally to 13 from six games, one less than Arsenal who beat Charlton Athletic 3-0 on Saturday.
New striker Robbie Keane made his debut for Spurs but he, like the rest of his team, had a first half to forget.
The game exploded into life after Simon Davies calmly swept home a fine Matthew Etherington cross after 62 minutes.
Frederic Kanoute levelled for West Ham four minutes later and then Keane fooled Pearce with some lovely skill to win a penalty. Pearce was sent off and Teddy Sheringham whacked in the spot kick to make it 2-1 with 19 minutes left.
West Ham bravely equalised again when Trevor Sinclair diverted in Paolo Di Canio’s free kick with Spurs’ defence asleep but the 20-year-old Gardner saved the home side’s blushes when he hammered a deflected shot into the net from 20 metres.
There was similar drama at Maine Road.
Blackburn led 2-0 through David Thompson and Andy Cole before City’s Danny Tiatto was sent off for a dangerous tackle.
The home side looked to be finished but goals by Nicolas Anelka, after 80 minutes, and substitute Shaun Goater in the dying seconds salvaged an unlikely point.
Results:
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:
On Sunday:
Manchester City 2 Blackburn Rovers 2
Tottenham Hotspur 3 West Ham United 2
On Saturday:
Bolton Wanderers 2 Liverpool 3
Charlton Athletic 0 Arsenal 3
Chelsea 3 Newcastle United 0
Everton 2 Middlesbrough 1
Leeds United 1 Manchester United 0
Sunderland 0 Fulham 3
West Bromwich Albion 1 Southampton 0
SPANISH FIRST DIVISION:
On Sunday:
Alaves 0 Racing Santander 1
Atletico Madrid 1 Sevilla 1
Celta Vigo 3 Real Mallorca 1
Espanyol 1 Real Sociedad 3
Valladolid 1 Villarreal 0
On Saturday:
Athletic Bilbao 0 Barcelona 2
Malaga 2 Rayo Vallecano 1
Osasuna 1 Deportivo Coruna 2
Real Betis 1 Real Madrid 0
Valencia 3 Recreativo Huelva 0
ITALIAN FIRST DIVISION:
On Sunday:
Brescia 1 Piacenza 2
Juventus 3 Atalanta 0
Lazio 2 Chievo 3
Perugia 2 Reggina 0
Udinese 1 Parma 1
On Saturday:
Bologna 2 AS Roma 1
Como 0 Empoli 2
Inter Milan 1 Torino 0
Modena 0 AC Milan 3
GERMAN FIRST DIVISION:
On Sunday:
Hamburg SV 2 Kaiserslautern 0
VfL Bochum 0 Hansa Rostock 1
On Saturday:
Energie Cottbus 0 Werder Bremen 1
Nuremberg 1 Bayern Munich 2
TSV 1860 Munich 2 VfL Wolfsburg 2
Arminia Bielefeld 0 Hertha Berlin 1
Borussia M’chengladbach 1 VfB Stuttgart 1
Bayer Leverkusen 1 Hanover 96 3
Borussia Dortmund 1 Schalke 04 1
—Reuters