Tottenham Hotspur on this Day - 26th November, 2005

 Tottenham Hotspur on this Day - 26th November  

Martin Jol celebrated his fiftieth match in charge at Tottenham with a win at Wigan Athletic

26th November 2005 

Wigan Athletic 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Premier League)
Scorers: Keane, Davids

This was manager Martin Jol’s 50th match in charge of Tottenham, having taken over just over twelve months earlier after the surprise resignation of Jacques Santini. Jol had been the Assistant to Santini and took over immediately, bringing some focus and purpose to the club. Improved results throughout the 2005-06 season saw Spurs just miss out on the Champions League on the last day of the season in the 'Lasagne-gate' mystery - losing to West Ham and so missing out on fourth place in the Premier League and a Champions League place, to Arsenal.

A Diary of the 2005-06 Season

Wigan, in their first season in the Premier League, were sitting third in the League so 9th-placed Spurs were expecting a tough game. In a hard-fought match, Spurs had the perfect start when Robbie Keane put them ahead after eight minutes following a defensive mistake. Keane, selected ahead of Jermain Defoe, was a constant irritant to the Wigan defenders - working hard all across the pitch.

Wigan battled away but with thirteen minutes to play, Edgar Davids, Tottenham’s Dutch international star, gathered the ball near the half-way line and set off towards goal. He slalomed his way up the heavy pitch, through and past ineffective challenges to score with a low shot shot into the right corner. It was Davids’ first and only goal for Spurs having signed from Inter Milan in the previous summer.

Wigan, their fighting spirit undiminished kept going and were rewarded with two minutes remaining but Tottenham left with two three points and moved up to fifth place.

Team: Robinson, Stalteri, Dawson, King, Lee, Jenas, Carrick, Davids, Tainio, Keane, Mido.
Subs Not Used: Kelly, Brown, Cerny, Defoe, Lennon.