After Tottenham's 5-1 win against Southampton back at White Hart Lane nearly three months ago, the prospect of ending a run of five straight defeats at St Mary's may have seemed feasible beforehand.
However, there was plenty of evidence to suggest that Harry Redknapp will keep Southampton in the Premiership, which had seemed like mission impossible when he arrived at the club in December. Three vital points from Tottenham's visit proved a massive boost - one of equal importance to the Redknapp family - relative newcomers to the cause, as much as it was to the rest of the south coast club and its supporters.
|
"Their away record is one of the worst in the league, so they know they have to do it at home. They were fighting for their lives and did well. We knew how much Saints wanted to win but we should have got something out of this game.
"At the same time I'm pleased for Jamie Redknapp. I thought he had a great game. He left Tottenham to help his dad and I don't begrudge either of them today's victory."
"The main thing they did was to hit Crouch and that was a bit of a problem for us. You have to pressurise all the time so they don't have the chance to play the ball to him, but we didn't do that," said Tottenham coach Martin Jol.
The only goal came six minutes into the second half. Saints substitute Alan Neilsson with his first touch delivered a cross to the head of Nigel Quashie for the unmarked Scot to score.