Tottenham 2 Leeds 1

Last updated : 23 August 2003 By Mad Reporter

A relieved Glenn Hoddle saw his Spurs team win 2-1 at home to a well-organised Leeds United side.

Hoddle will be delighted with his team as they outplayed Leeds for most of a game which saw three terrific goals.

Alan Smith opened the scoring with a great strike from fully 25 yards out after only four minutes.

Seth Johnson rolled a free-kick to the Leeds hitman who looked to have nothing on. Smith looked up and smashed the ball low and hard from the edge of a crowded box and into the bottom corner.

Spurs, stunned in to action, went on to dominate the first half and could have equalised a number of occasions.

Shortly before the break Spurs got their well deserved equaliser when Jamie Redknapp set up Mauricio Taricco with an intelligent crossfield ball.

Taricco, 30, then ran down the left flank and tucked inside two defenders. As the Leeds defence continued to back off Taricco struck a fierce right-footed drive high into the top corner of the Leeds goal from 20 yards.

This capped an outstanding half by the Argentinian to the obvious delight of his team-mates who mobbed him.

After the break Spurs started the much more positive and threatened the Leeds goal straight from the restart.

Helder Postiga came very close very early on as he turned the Leeds defence inside out with a terrific run from midfield.

Postiga danced his way into the box and saw his curling shot zip just past the far post.

Both Postiga and Frederic Kanoute, a substitute on the hour, found themselves unmarked in the box only to waste their chances with poor headers.

Kanoute, a £3.5million summer signing was making his debut for Spurs.

Ten minutes into his first Spurs game the young striker gave Spurs the lead with a spectacular effort.

Kanoute neatly took down a Stephen Carr free-kick that Mark Viduka failed to clear and, from on the penalty spot, scored with a well-executed overhead-kick with his back to goal.