Men's

Playoffs 2nd Leg

White Hart Lane

Thu 25 Aug 2011 | 20:00

Match Report

A youthful Tottenham XI acquitted themselves well as they drew with Hearts to secure comfortable progress into the Europa League group stages.

Trailing 5-0 from the first leg, a much-changed Hearts side, playing for pride, struck the bar early on through Gordon Smith's turn-and-shot.

But Spurs, who fielded six academy graduates, edged the game overall.

Andros Townsend was their star turn, while Harry Kane missed the best chance from the spot after being felled.

It was a lively match for long periods despite effectively being a dead rubber featuring weakened line-ups.

In the end, though, the night was more memorable from a Tottenham point of view for the signings of Emmanuel Adebayor and Iago Falque on season-long loan deals, both announced during play, and the absence of Luka Modric - who did not even feature on the bench as talk of a move to Chelsea continued to circle White Hart Lane.

Still, there was enough potential on show to please both sets of supporters.

Outshining their senior team-mates, the likes of Scott Robinson and Ryan McGowan were full of running for the visitors - and alongside Smith's shot that hit the bar, Daniel Grainger and Mehdi Taouil both had fine efforts from range that forced home keeper Carlo Cudicini into action.

For their part, and with the likes of Jake Livermore and Tom Carroll pulling the strings in midfield, Tottenham were typically crisp and confident in their passing.

But the hosts did not create too many chances, Kane forcing a smart save from the angle before earning a penalty when he was felled by Jamie MacDonald, only for his firm effort to be kept out well by the Hearts keeper low to his right.

Roman Pavlyuchenko also brought a save out of MacDonald with a long-range curler - but the tie had been won long before kick-off at White Hart Lane, a fact that was all-too obvious as the game petered out in the final stages.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp: "They [the youngsters] all did well - and this will only improve them. This is a big stage for them, a massive step up, but it can only do them good.

"As for what my team will be in this competition going forward, well you've got to be careful, you've got to juggle your squad. I'll play the kids at times, but when there are vital games you want to win and keep progressing. It's a balancing act.

"[Transfers?] The chairman's on a couple of transfers at the moment. There's one or two in the pipeline, but we don't need to bring them in by the lorryload here, we've got good players."

Hearts manager Paulo Sergio, after hearing Rangers and Celtic had also been knocked out: "[Scottish football] is not in trouble. I think there are great footballers in Scotland.

"I think there are great teams in Scotland too, stronger than ours, but this is football.

"As for tonight, I have to say thanks to our great supporters who came here. They did very well. They won their game. We didn't win our game but they did."