Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson apologized to Watford's Ben
Foster for the 'freak' goal that embarrassed his England rival.
Robinson left Foster red-faced when he scored Tottenham's second
goal in their 3-1 win over Watford on Saturday. The England number
one launched a free-kick from deep in his own half that bounced
over Foster and into the net.
The match had been billed as a battle of the top two English
goalkeepers and Foster, who has been earning rave reviews this
season, was expected to underline his case to unseat Robinson.
But Foster's 63rd minute mistake means England coach Steve
McClaren is likely to keep the on-loan Manchester United stopper on
the sidelines for the forthcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers against
Israel and Andorra.
However, Robinson insists he will go easy on Foster when they
meet up for England duty next week.
He said: "I will try not to mention it. I know what it's like
and it's not nice.
"It was a bit of a freak. If it goes wide I would probably have
got a telling off from the strikers - it's just one of those things
in football."
Tottenham's victory moved them into sixth place and was the
ideal preparation for today's FA Cup quarterfinal replay against
Chelsea. In contrast, Watford look certain to go down after a
defeat that left them 11 points from safety.
Steed Malbranque created the first chance in the 17th minute
when he got to the byline and cut a cross back, only for Mido to
blast over.
Jermaine Jenas was back in action after missing three matches
with a groin injury and he looked determined to make up for lost
time.
He was at the heart of all Tottenham's best moments and gave
Tottenham the lead with a well-taken header before half-time.
Hossam Ghaly added a third for Martin Jol's in-form team before
Darius Henderson pulled one back in the last minute for doomed
Watford.
Arm's length
Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-Sung grabbed two goals each as
Manchester United beat Bolton 4-1 on Saturday to retain a six-point
lead over Chelsea at the top of the Premiership.
Chelsea made equally light work of Sheffield United, goals from
Andriy Shevchenko, Salomon Kalou and Michael Ballack allowing the
champions to cruise to a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge.
But with only eight games left in the title run-in, time is
running short for Jose Mourinho's men: United's superior goal
difference means they will almost certainly be champions for the
first time since 2003 if they win six of their remaining
matches.
"There is nothing we can do about them, we can only win our
games," Mourinho admitted with an air of resignation.
At Old Trafford, South Korean midfielder Park scored two
close-range efforts either side of Rooney's superbly-taken opener
as United killed the lunchtime contest in the space of 11
first-half minutes.
Rooney, United's only fully fit forward, added his second with
another brilliant finish quarter of an hour from the end but the
real architect of the victory was Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese winger made United's first three goals before
making way for Alan Smith to make his first Premiership appearance
since breaking a leg and dislocating an ankle in February 2006.
The one negative point for United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was
an ankle ligament injury for Gary Neville that will sideline his
captain for at least three weeks.
"To score four goals at home at this stage of the season is
tremendous," Ferguson said. "It emphasizes the confidence running
through the team."
Elsewhere, West Ham climbed off the bottom of the table with a
hugely controversial 2-1 win at Blackburn.
After cancelling out Christopher Samba's opener through a Carlos
Tevez penalty, the Hammers claimed only their second win in four
months after a goalmouth scramble in which Bobby Zamora's poke was
judged to have crossed the line.
Television replays suggested that his shot had been
inadvertently blocked by his team-mate Tevez.
Manchester City earned some breathing space by ending a run of
five straight defeats with a 2-0 win at Middlesbrough.
(China Daily via AFP March 19, 2007)